Kiki Bertens finds it difficult to estimate how she is doing after her hopeless defeat at the WTA tournament in Doha (0-6 and 2-6). According to the number eleven in the world, her opponent Jelena Ostapenko played “really impressive”.
“I thought she played very well. She missed little, hit a lot of winners and had an answer to everything. This makes it difficult to estimate where you stand”, said the 29-year-old tennis player, who has been playing since October last. was not in action for years due to Achilles tendon surgery.
“You really try to work your way into the game, but it wasn’t good enough. She was just really the better and had everything on her racket. It’s no different and now it’s a matter of continuing with what I’m doing. “
Ostapenko is 40 places lower in the world ranking than Bertens (51st to 11th), but the 23-year-old Latvian has already proven in the past that she can occasionally reach a very high level, with the title at Roland Garros in 2017 as best example. On Monday, Ostapenko came to no less than 26 winners in 14 games, against only 19 unnecessary errors.
Bertens lost within an hour, but sounded quite delighted just after her match. “Of course I am frustrated. Of course you hope to win the tournament right away when you return. I did everything I could, but she was just too good”, said the Westland, who felt physically okay. “My foot was good today and it didn’t affect me. I stood on my feet.”
‘Hopefully I will meet a slightly lesser opponent in Dubai’
Later in the week, Bertens will still play in the doubles in Doha. “I am happy that I have been admitted with Lesley Pattinama-Kerkhove, so that I will play at least one more game here,” said Bertens.
“And it is also a matter of going back to the training courses and working a lot of hours to prepare myself as well as possible for the Dubai tournament. Hopefully I will find a slightly less opponent there.”
The Dubai WTA tournament starts on Sunday.
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