Jelena Ostapenko remembers father on fourth anniversary of his premature death

Jelena Ostapenko paid tribute to her father on the fourth anniversary of his premature death as the Latvian tennis star dedicated her Brisbane International second-round win to her late dad. 

On January 3rd, 2020, Ostapenko’s father Jevgenijs suddenly died at the age of 43. At the time, Ostapenko announced the news on her social media but she didn’t list the cause of death. 

After a first-round bye in Brisbane, Ostapenko started her Brisbane International campaign on Wednesday, January 3rd. In the Brisbane second round, Ostapenko ousted Camila Giorgi 6-1 6-4. 

After the match, Ostapenko posted a photo taken with her dad when she was a kid. 

“Today’s win was very special for me (praying emoji). Four years without you dad. This win is for you,” Ostapenko captioned her Instagram Story. 

Ostapenko dedicates her Brisbane win to her father

After the opening two games of the match, Ostapenko and Giorgi were tied to one game apiece. From that moment on, Ostapenko absolutely dominated the rest of the set as she claimed back-to-back breaks in the fourth and sixth games to win five games in a row and win the first set in impressive style.

In the fifth game of the second set, Ostapenko had a chance to go up by a set and a break but Giorgi saved the Latvian’s break point opportunity to open a 3-2 lead. After saving Ostapenko’s break point in the fifth, Giorgi also earned her first break of the match in the following game to take a 4-2 lead.

Just when it seemed that the momentum was shifting Giorgi’s way, Ostapenko responded with back-to-back breaks in the seventh and ninth games to win four games in a row – overturn the second-set deficit – and complete a two-set win.

In the Brisbane round-of-16, Ostapenko will be clashing against former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova, who defeated Naomi Osaka on Wednesday. Going into the match, the head-to-head between Ostapenko and Pliskova stands at 5-5.