Tennis - Australian Open - Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne, Australia, January 19, 2018. Estonia's Anett Kontaveit celebrates winning her match against Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko. REUTERS/Toru Hanai
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko's Australian Open hopes ended on Friday as the seventh seed was beaten 6-3 1-6 6-3 by Anett Kontaveit in a battle of the Baltic.
Latvian Ostapenko produced her usual brand of gung-ho tennis but Estonian Kontaveit weathered the storm to take her place in the fourth round in Melbourne for the first time.
Ostapenko, playing with a heavily bandaged thigh, dominated the second set but was unable to sustain her level.
Tennis - Australian Open - Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne, Australia, January 19, 2018. Estonia's Anett Kontaveit shakes hands with Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko after Kontaveit won their match. REUTERS/Toru Hanai
The players traded breaks early in the deciding set but the 22-year-old Kontaveit outlasted her opponent in marathon seventh game, thumping a weak second serve for a backhand winner on her fifth break point to seize the advantage again.
After holding serve, 32nd seed Kontaveit sealed victory when an Ostapenko forehand thumped into the net.
Her reward is a fourth round tie against unseeded Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro who got the better of Kaia Kanepi in three sets.
Tennis - Australian Open - Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne, Australia, January 19, 2018. Estonia's Anett Kontaveit celebrates winning her match against Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko. REUTERS/Toru Hanai
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis)
Tennis - Australian Open - Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne, Australia, January 19, 2018. Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko in action during her match against Estonia's Anett Kontaveit. REUTERS/Toru HanaiTennis - Australian Open - Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne, Australia, January 19, 2018. Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko in action during her match against Estonia's Anett Kontaveit. REUTERS/Toru HanaiTennis - Australian Open - Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne, Australia, January 19, 2018. Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko celebrates during her match against Estonia's Anett Kontaveit. REUTERS/Toru HanaiTennis - Australian Open - Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne, Australia, January 19, 2018. Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko in action during her match against Estonia's Anett Kontaveit. REUTERS/Toru HanaiTennis - Australian Open - Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne, Australia, January 19, 2018. Estonia's Anett Kontaveit in action during her match against Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko. REUTERS/Toru HanaiTennis - Australian Open - Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne, Australia, January 19, 2018. Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko in action during her match against Estonia's Anett Kontaveit. REUTERS/Toru HanaiTennis - Australian Open - Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne, Australia, January 19, 2018. Estonia's Anett Kontaveit celebrates winning her match against Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko. REUTERS/Toru Hanai
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