Latvia's number one player Alena Ostapenko reached the third round of the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing, LETA reports. Seeded 24th, Ostapenko, ranked 32nd in the WTA world rankings, defeated former world number two Spaniard Paula Badosa (ranked 59th) in the second round with a score of 7-6 (7-5), 7-5. For reaching the third round, the Latvian tennis player earned 65 WTA ranking points. In her next match, she will face Belgian Elise Mertens, who is ranked 19th in the world. Ostapenko received a bye in the first round due to her seeding. Badosa won her opening match against Australian Daria Kasatkina with a score of 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4. The opponents met for the seventh time. Now Ostapenko has achieved her fifth victory, winning the last four head-to-head matches in a row. Previously, the tennis players had never played against each other before the quarterfinal stage. In February, they were supposed to meet in the first round of the tournament in Doha, but Badosa withdrew from the competition due to injury. Ostapenko began her Asian tournament series at the WTA 250 event in Seoul, where she lost in the second round. Badosa reached the semifinals of the WTA 250 tournament in São Paulo before Beijing. This is Ostapenko's seventh appearance at the tournament in the Chinese capital. Her best result came in 2017 when she reached the semifinals. Last season, the Latvian tennis player exited in the second round. The tournament in Beijing is held on hard courts.
