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French Open debutant Peyton Stearns produced the biggest win of her career by defeating former champion Jelena Ostapenko to reach the third round at Roland Garros on Wednesday.
Stearns, a former player at the University of Texas, turned professional in June last year.
Ostapenko won the 2017 French Open but has since failed to advance past the third round. The 17th-seeded Latvian dropped her serve five times against Stearns and hit 28 unforced errors in a 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 loss.
Ostapenko’s loss, combined with Barbora Krejcikova‘s loss in the first round to Lesia Tsurenko, leaves Iga Swiatek as the only former champion remaining in the women’s draw.
The 21-year-old Stearns has been climbing the WTA rankings and entered the French Open at No. 69 on the back of an encouraging clay-court campaign.
No. 5 Caroline Garcia also suffered an early exit Wednesday, holding off eight match points before falling to an ace on the ninth in a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 loss to Anna Blinkova. Blinkova previously knocked out Garcia in the second round of the French Open in 2019.
Third-seeded Jessica Pegula advanced after Camila Giorgi retired due to injury. The American won the first set 6-2 before her Italian rival threw in the towel.
Only hours after husband Gael Monfils won a five-set thriller in Tuesday night’s session, Elina Svitolina rallied past qualifier Storm Hunter 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Daria Kasatkina, a semifinalist at last year’s French Open, moved into the third round with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Marketa Vondrousova.
“It’s fun to watch, but to play against Marketa is very tough,” Kasatkina said. “Physically it was a big battle. The second set was so tough.”
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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