Tennis - China Open - National Tennis Center, Beijing, China - October 6, 2023 Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko in action during her quarter-final match against Russia's Liudmila Samsonova REUTERS/Florence Lo/ File photo
ADELAIDE (Reuters) - Sixth seed Jelena Ostapenko came back from a sluggish start to beat Sorana Cirstea 2-6 6-2 6-4 in the first round of the Adelaide International on Tuesday.
Ostapenko, a quarter-finalist at last week's Brisbane International, needed nearly two hours to settle the match at the Australian Open tune-up event, enjoying a modicum of revenge after the Romanian beat her at Wimbledon last year.
Cirstea won four games in a row to race through the opening set but former French Open champion Ostapenko hit back in the second and fired back-to-back aces to force the decider.
The Latvian then raced to a 5-2 lead but was broken serving for the match. She blew two match points at 5-3 but went on to seal victory with her sixth ace.
Laura Siegemund, who was part of the Germany team that won the United Cup title last week, upset world number 14 Liudmila Samsonova 6-7(1) 6-4 6-4.
Former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin began her campaign at the Hobart International, another Melbourne Park warm-up event, with a 6-3 6-3 win against Greet Minnen of Belgium.
Kenin, who saved all three break points she faced in the match, will meet Daria Saville for a spot in the quarter-finals.
Returning to the tour for the first time since last year's Wimbledon, Denis Shapovalov lost 6-4 6-2 to Sebastian Ofner at Auckland Classic.
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Peter Rutherford)
