Highlights: Venus outlasts Ostapenko in epic

Published by Matt Trollope

Venus Williams overcame Jelena Ostapenko in the match of the WTA Finals so far in 2017, winning a three-set, three-hour (plus) epic in Singapore.

Williams defeated the Latvian – 17 years her junior – 7-5 6-7(3) 7-5 in three hours and 13 minutes to keep alive her hopes of qualifying for the semifinals.

Ostapenko, meanwhile, is out of the running.

That became clear when Karolina Pliskova dismissed Garbine Muguruza for the loss of just four games, sealing her place in the semifinals and leaving Muguruza and Williams to battle it out for the other semifinal place from the White Group.

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Williams and Ostapenko had played just once before, a rapid-fire affair in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon that Williams won 6-3 7-5.

On Tuesday night in Singapore it was a vastly different match.

Williams, who last played this tournament in 2009 when it was staged in Doha, fell to Muguruza in her last meeting with the Spaniard, which came in the Wimbledon final.

Thankfully, she’ll have a day to recover from her gruelling victory over Ostapenko.

What did she make of her incredible win over one of the sport’s brightest new stars?

She summed it up, opaquely and listlessly, in just 34 words.

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