Jelena Ostapenko found herself in quite a pickle. The 2017 French Open champion just wrapped up her singles campaign at Melbourne Park, but continued on the doubles front alongside her partner, Hsieh Su-wei. The two make quite a team as they advanced to the third round to face Laura Siegemund and Sofia Kenin. Things were going Jelena’s way, but an incident occured that earned loud gasps.

On Monday, Jelena and Su-wei looked unstoppable, racing ahead 6-3, 5-1 in total command of their third-round match. The scoreboard read 30-15 in the seventh game when things took a dramatic turn. Ostapenko darted toward the net and unleashed a rocket-like two-handed backhand straight at Siegemund.

The German somehow twisted mid-point to keep the ball alive, but Ostapenko wasn’t done. The next backhand went straight to Siegemund’s face, sending her to the ground in shock. She managed to get back on her feet as Kenin rushed to check on her, while Jelena quickly apologized.

Once play resumed, Siegemund and Kenin fought on bravely, but the momentum was long gone. The Latvian-Taiwanese duo held firm, sealing their place in the fourth round with a sharp 6-3, 6-2 victory.

Despite the scary moment on court, Jelena Ostapenko and her partner have been doing well so far. As the third seeds of the tournament, they’ve taken down Olivia Gadecki and Desirae Krawczyk in the opening round of the doubes tournament, 7-5, 6-2.

In the last round, they got an easy pass as Anastasia Potapova and Olga Danilovic withdrew from the round two match ahead of time. The reason behind the withdrawal has not been stated as of now, but it pushed the Latvian-Taiwanese duo to another straight sets victory.

For Jelena Ostapenko, the singles tournament didn’t go in her favor. The Latvian had made it the to second round before falling to Wang Xinyu after a three set battle, where she took the first set, 6-4. But failed to convert points leading to a 6-4, 4-6, 4-6 loss.

Now, at the doubles tournament, she’s looking to improve their result from last year. She’s got her priorities clear about it as well.

Jelena Ostapenko speaks about her partnership with Hsieh

It’s only their second season at the Australian Open together. Not long ago, they were rivals across the net. At the 2024 Australian Open women’s doubles final, Hsieh teamed up with Belgium’s Elise Mertens to defeat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok with a commanding 6-1, 7-5 victory.

Still, Jelena Ostapenko is quite confident in her parnership with Hsieh Su-wei:

“When you have a good vibe with a person and a good connection, I think it is great. Hsieh and I are having a lot of fun on the court. She is a great personality and I also feel like the more we play, the better we feel as a player, each other,” Ostapenko told The Sitdown.

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Their partnership nearly hit dreamland last season when they reached the women’s doubles final. That run ended just short of glory against the Czech-American pair of Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend. The match stretched into a gritty three-set fight where Ostapenko and Hsieh clawed back to take the second set before bowing out 2-6, 6-7, 2-6.

Now in Melbourne again, their latest win over Kenin and Siegemund has pushed them into the quarterfinals, where they’ll meet the formidable duo of Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani. Could they go further to set up a revenge match against Townsend and Siniakova? Share your thoughts in the comments below.