PARIS — Jelena Ostapenko is known to swat a tennis ball with wild abandon at any white line, at any moment. That hellbent confidence is what made her the French Open champion in 2017, and what led in large part to her first-round elimination Sunday at Roland Garros against her own, personal Ostapenko-killer.
That opponent would be Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine, who knocked off Ostapenko for the third time in three career meetings, 7-5, 6-3, on Philippe Chatrier. Because of their head-to-head history, the result did not exactly amount to a shock. It did, however, remind everyone that Ostapenko, the 20-year-old Latvian star, is still very much a work in progress, and quite capable of self-sabotage.