WHAT HAPPENED: Reigning French Open champion and No. 12 seed Jelena Ostapenko passed a stern test from Spain's Lara Arruabarrena -- and the weather -- to begin her US Open on Tuesday with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-1 victory.
Plagued by two stoppages due to rain, it was a tale of two matches -- and two courts -- for the world No. 12, who became just one of six women to advance to the second round on Tuesday due to the conditions.
"The first set I played really well, and the second set I stepped back a little bit," Ostapenko said after the match. "She played well, then we had to wait not the whole day but couple of hours if we have to play or not. I didn't really know what to do, should I warm up or should I go back to hotel.
"When Rafa [Nadal] finished...we went on court and played a match. I'm really happy that I could have a chance to play on a big court."
In a match that began on Court 17, Ostapenko overpowered her Spanish opponent in the opener, blasting 16 winners to counteract her 15 unforced errors, as Arruabarrena was unable to fire one winner past the Latvian's defenses in the set.
However, Ostapenko's offensive onslaught sputtered in the second set and Arruabarrena pounced, breaking serve three times as the Latvian's first serve percentage dipped under 30 percent. The world No. 60 stroked a tidy eight winners to just six unforced errors to send the match to a decider, as she looked to win a match at the US Open for the first time since her tournament main draw debut in 2012.
A brief drizzle with the Spaniard leading 5-1 in the second set proved to be a harbinger of things to come, and the players contested five more games before they were ushered off court for a second delay which lasted more than five hours with the French Open champion leading 3-1 in the final set.
With her Arthur Ashe Stadium debut coming out of necessity, Ostapenko hardly missed a beat under the roof, blitzing through the final three games with the loss of just two points to punch her ticket into the second round.
"Today, it was advantage for me to finish the match under the roof because the court is kind of faster. I finished great those....three games. I always love to play on the big courts. I really enjoy to play in front of crowd. That's I think one of the dreams of all tennis players, to play on a big court."
WHAT IT MEANS: The 20-year-old Ostapenko backed up a stunning first Grand Slam title in Paris with a run to the last eight at Wimbledon, where she lost to runner-up Venus Williams, but struggled to find her form during the summer season and the US Open Series.
Ostapenko flamed out in her first match in both Toronto and Cincinnati, and came into the US Open on a three-match skid, but once again proved her mettle in a deciding set. The Latvian is a staggering 16-7 in three-set matches this season, and improved that mark to 8-1 in Grand Slams with Tuesday's victory.
"There are a lot of great players here these two weeks. You have to work really hard and play every match," she said. "Those tournaments were to play matches, to feel how to play on hard court. The most important tournament was of course here, to get ready for this tournament. I just tried to work hard before US Open and just forget those matches, because I had a new tournament coming."
The Latvian is competing in just her third US Open and has matched her best result with a second round showing, where she will face Romania's Sorana Cirstea for a spot in the final 32.
MATCH POINT: When on her game, Ostapenko has the firepower -- and the belief -- to be one of the world's best. In a wide-open women's draw, how far can the French Open champion go?
