Marina Stakusic delivered the biggest win of her tennis career on Thursday. In the quarterfinals of the 2024 Guadalajara Open in Mexico, Stakusic upset the number one seed, and 2017 French Open champion, Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6. It was an overwhelmingly dominant third set tie break for Stakusic, as she won all seven points in winning 7-0.
A major reason for Stakusic’s win is because she saw Ostapenko’s serve very well. She broke Ostapenko eight times in 18 break point opportunities. To put Stakusic’s win into perspective, Stakusic is ranked 155th in the world, while Ostapenko is ranked 12th.
Stakusic will now face the 43rd ranked player, and fifth ranked player in Guadalajara, Magdalena Frech of Poland. Stakusic won their only prior meeting. That came at the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup this past November, as Stakusic won 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in Seville, Spain.
It is interesting that were only two wildcards given and one spot was given to Stakusic. The other was to Ana Sofia Sanchez of Mexico.
All four quarterfinal matches will take place on Friday. The other three have the fourth seed and 2022 United States Open semifinalist Caroline Garcia of France facing the sixth seed Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic, Camila Osorio of Colombia versus Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia, and 2022 French Open semifinalist Martina Trevisan of Italy against Australian qualifier Olivia Gadecki.
