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Jelena Ostapenko was full of praise for Barbora Krejcikova after beating the Czech in the Birmingham final. Ostapenko, seeded at No 2, defeated top-seeded Krejcikova 7-6 (8) 6-4 in the Birmingham final to win her first title of the year.
Interestingly, it was a meeting between two French Open champions - Ostapenko won it all at Roland Garros in 2017 while Krejcikova won the title in Paris two years ago. “She’s a really great player. Congrats to her and her team.
It was a great week. I know it’s not fun to lose in the final. Hopefully, we will play many more finals and I wish you good luck at Wimbledon," Ostapenko said after beating Krejcikova in the Birmingham final.
Ostapenko beat Krejcikova for her sixth WTA title
In the first set, Ostapenko missed out on a break point in the sixth game but also saved two break points in the seventh game.
As no break points were seen in the first set, the opener had to be resolved in a tie-break. In the first-set tie-break, Ostapenko missed out on three set points before facing and saving Krejcikova's first set point. After saving Krejcikova's set point, Ostapenko earned her fourth set point and converted it to win an extremely tight first set.
In the second set, Ostapenko broke Krejcikova in the first and fifth game as the Latvian opened a comfortable 5-1 lead. Down by a set and two breaks, Krejcikova refused to quit as she managed to get one break back and cut the deficit to 4-5.
But Ostapenko kept her focus and managed to serve out for the title in the 10th game. "Just to fight for every single point, and to play until the very last point, because some matches I was down, but I managed to win them.
I’m just really proud of myself the way I fought. That’s probably the key which brought me the title here," Ostapenko said.