French Open debutant Peyton Stearns scored the biggest win of her career by beating former champion Jelena Ostapenko to reach the third round at Roland Garros on Wednesday.
Stearns, a former University of Texas player, turned pro in June of last year.
Ostapenko won the 2017 French Open but hasn’t managed to get past the third round since. The 17th-seeded Latvian dropped five serves against Stearns and made 28 unforced errors in a 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 loss.
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Ostapenko’s defeat, combined with Barbora Krejcikova’s first-round loss to Lesia Tsurenko, leaves Iga Swiatek as the only former champion remaining in the women’s draw.
Stearns, 21, has climbed the WTA rankings and entered the French Open in 69th place thanks to an encouraging clay-court season.
No.5 Caroline Garcia also suffered an early exit on Wednesday, saving eight match points before falling to an ace in a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 loss to Anna Blinkova in ninth place. Blinkova beat Garcia in the second round of the French Open back in 2019.
Third seed Jessica Pegula progressed after Camila Giorgi retired through injury. The American won the first set 6-2 before her Italian competitor threw in the towel.
Just hours after husband Gael Monfils won a five-set thriller on Tuesday night, Elina Svitolina prevailed over qualifier Storm Hunter 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Daria Kasatkina, semifinalist at last year’s French Open, advanced to the third round with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Marketa Vondrousova.
“It’s fun to watch but playing against Marketa is very tough,” said Kasatkina. “Physically, it was a big fight. The second set was so hard.”
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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