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Stakusic upsets top-seed Ostapenko in Guadalajara

Staff WritersAP
Marina Stakusic has upset Jelena Ostapenko at the Guadalajara Open. (EPA PHOTO)
Camera IconMarina Stakusic has upset Jelena Ostapenko at the Guadalajara Open. (EPA PHOTO) Credit: AAP

Teenager Marina Stakusic fought off four match points to claim the biggest win of her career in defeating top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko 6-3 5-7 7-6 (0) to advance to the Guadalajara Open quarter-finals.

The 19-year-old Canadian wild card trailed 4-0 in the third set and fought off the four match points when down 5-3.

"I'm happy to pull through, it was a rollercoaster, I got a chance to close it in the second and I didn't, but I'm happy with the win and excited with the quarters," said Stakusic.

Stakusic beat Olympic semi-finalist Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2 6-4 in the opening round and then Ostapenko for her first career win over a top-20 player. Last year she lost to Barbora Krejcikova in the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.

The Canadian, ranked 155th, is the first wild-card entry to reach the quarterfinals in Guadalajara. Stakusic will next play fifth-seeded Magdalena Frech, who beat Ashley Krueger 3-6 6-3 6-1 in the last match of the night.

Ostapenko, who is ranked 12th and won the 2017 French Open, had 17 double faults in the match.

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Earlier, fourth-seeded Caroline Garcia held off Ena Shibajara 7-6 (3) 7-6 (5) to also progress to the quarter-finals, where she will meet Marie Bouzkova, who in the first match of the day breezed past qualifier Lucrezia Stefanini 6-2 6-1.

The 30-year-old Garcia will be playing in her first quarter-final since she made the semis at Rouen in April.

"We played very different styles, she is a player that does not suit me, I need to play solid, and I will see what I can do differently to beat her," said Garcia, who is 0-4 against Bouzkova.

The tournament is being played on hard courts at the Complejo Panamericano de Tenis, in Guadalajara.

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