Defending champion Iga Swiatek suffers shock US Open exit to Jelena Ostapenko in round of 16

Defending women's singles champion Iga Swiatek was absolutely stunned by former French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko as the world No. 1 suffered a 6-3, 3-6, 1-6 loss in the round of 16 match of the 2023 US Open at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. 2023 marks the eighth consecutive year in the WTA field where the defending champion has failed to reach the final, let alone retain the trophy, with the legendary Serena Williams being the last player during her three-straight trophy hauls between 20012 and 2014.

If there was anyone who possessed the ability to end Swiatek's reign in New York, it had to be the Latvian, who in the early hours of Monday, continued her mastery over the Pole by securing a fourth consecutive career win against her.

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Heading into the match, Swiatek had won just one set off the 2017 French Open winner, but all their previous three meetings came prior to the 22-year-old's rise to the world No. 1 spot last year. Hence an improved Swiatek banked on her evolution on hardcourts to flip the script on Arthur Ashe. And probably it was the enthusiasm that saw her gain the opening set off Ostapenko in the pre-quarters clash which was basically a much-anticipated baseline tug-o-war. After a quick exchange of breaks in the first set, Swiatek outclassed Ostapenko from the baseline to gain another breakpoint chance which she converted with a flat cross-court passing shot for a 4-2 lead. The 26-year-old threatened to bounce back when Swiatek was serving out the set at 5-3 with back-to-back winners. But a couple of missed returns, saw Swiatek take the lead with a 6-3 win in the first set.

Just when Swiatek sniffed the opportunity to script her first win against Ostapenko and keep her US Open dream alive, Ostapenko flipped the tables.

She gained the early break in the second set to go 3-0 up before Swiatek got on the board after Ostapenko erred on her first drop shot attempt in the match. But the Latvian, by then, looked more threatning than ever, having piled up double the numbers on the winners list than Swiatek. A total of 10 were fired in the second set while the unforced errors were reduced to just five as Ostapenko levelled the match.

"I always expect a tough battle against Iga," Ostapenko said on court. "She's won many Slams and she plays very consistent. I just went on court and I had to play aggressive because that's what she doesn't really like. In the third set, I stepped more in the court and I was serving better."

Carrying on the momentum, she raced away to a 5-0 lead in the final set before being broken in the sixth game, but it did little to affect her rhythm as she broke back yet again to close out the win after 1 hour and 48 minutes.

Ostapenko wrapped up the match with 31 winners to 20 unforced errors while the defending champion hit 18 winners to 18 unforced errors. To earn her second career win over a reigning No.1, Ostapenko broke Swiatek a total of seven times.

Ostapenko will next face No.6 Coco Gauff in the quarterfinal. They share a win each in two meetings on the WTA tour with Ostapenko having won earlier this year when she knocked out the American in the fourth round of the Australian Open.