‘A great champion’ – Jelena Ostapenko edges Venus Williams in Birmingham thriller, Aryna Sabalenka out in Berlin

Venus Williams lost a three-set epic against second seed Jelena Ostapenko at the Birmingham Open, while Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka crashed out in Berlin.

A blockbuster clash between two former Grand Slam winners delivered on its potential, with Ostapenko eventually triumphing 6-3 5-7 6-3 after two hours and 26 minutes.

“She’s a great champion and that hasn’t gone anywhere,” Ostapenko said.

“That’s always going to be with her. It’s great to play against players like her. She’s an idol to a lot of people so it was very special. Maybe that’s why I got a little bit tight in the second set.”

Five-time Wimbledon champion Williams was coming off a three-hour win over Camilo Giorgi and once again the 43-year-old’s endurance was put to the test.

Venus took the first break of the match to go 3-2 up, but Ostapenko immediately broke back and then put her foot down to dominate the rest of the set with a run of four straight games.

Williams required a medical timeout during the second set and was broken on her return, but battled back from 5-3 down and saved match point on her way to clinching the second set 7-5.

The veteran American’s run continued into the decider, where she took an early 2-0 lead, but Ostapenko managed to steady herself to wrestle back momentum and take a hard-fought victory.

The Latvian will face Magdalena Frech next, who beat eighth seed Sorana Cirstea 6-3 6-7(1) 6-4.

In Berlin, fifth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova defeated Gauff 6-4 6-0 to reach the quarter-finals.

She will play Veronika Kudermetova next, who defeated top seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-2 7-6.

It was a difficult match for Gauff, who struggled with her returns and hit only 42% of her serves.

She failed to match the Russian’s forehand strength and especially struggled in the second set when she won only one point out of eight behind her second serve.

The American went up 3-1 early on in the first set, but Alexandrova quickly responded by breaking her opponent’s serve in the subsequent game. From that point onward, she won all three of the match’s prolonged and closely contested game-deciding points, taking the set in the end.

In the second, Gauff saved three break points, but couldn’t convert her own game point and ended up conceding the break on the fourth break point due to a netted forehand.

She was then plagued by a series of unforced errors, particularly on the forehand side, tallying up to 27 mistakes. In comparison, Alexandrova showcased her solid tennis to see out the set without dropping a game.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” said Alexandrova after her win when asked about her strong grass-court form.

“Grass is not my favourite surface, but somehow I’m managing to play so well on it. And maybe the score looks easy, but it’s never like that because she played amazing.

“I needed to stay focused during every single point to keep it that way. I’m just hoping I can keep this form as long as I can.”

Later in the day, Sabalenka suffered the same fate as Gauff after Russian wildcard Kudermetova defeated her.

The reigning Australian Open winner has struggled to get a good run of matches under her belt after her shock defeat in the semi-final of the French Open, and against Kudermetova, it was no different, with the Belarusian struggling for a set and a half to get into a proper rhythm.

Kudermetova outclassed her opponent in the first set, and was able to defend well against the serves, with her forehand particularly impressive.

Sabalenka began to play some better tennis late in the second set after initially losing her serve and managed to take it to a tie-break, but failed to force Kudermetova to a third set.

“I’m super happy. For me it’s important to play like that. I know Aryna plays aggressive, I had to play aggressive too. I always believe in myself,” the 26-year-old said after her win.

“I’m already a bit used to playing on grass, which maybe helped a bit.”

Sixth seed Maria Sakkari and Marketa Vondruosova set up a quarter-final meeting with wins against Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Jule Niemeier respectively