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That women’s tennis is the most unpredictable sport in the world is a truth extolled so often in these pages it has become a truism. But it remains the case, gloriously so, and is encapsulated perfectly by today’s first quarter-final.
Jelena Ostapenko – Ostapenkz to us – is perhaps the funnest player in the sport, a bouncing bundle of implacable positivity. She fears nothing, ignores consequences, and unloads the suitcase on every shot – a lesson not just for tennis but for life. This philosophy brought her the French Open title in 2017, aged 20 – the first unseeded player to take Roland-Garros since 1933 – and she arrives at this match in similar form but with greater experience, her barrage of blazing winners bringing her to here without having lost a set.