Ostapenko, who is ranked tenth in the WTA rankings and seeded ninth in the tournament, beat Argentina’s Maria Lourdes Carla (WTA No. 82) 6-3, 6-3 in the third round match.
Reaching the round of 16 gives 120 WTA ranking points.
In it, Ostapenko will meet the eighth seed of the tournament, the Tunisian Onsa Jabert (WTA 9th), who defeated Canadian Leila Fernandez (WTA 35th) 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in the third round.
In the first six games of the match, the tennis players exchanged breaks until Ostapenko saved her serve. After that, the Latvian tennis player once again took the opponent’s serve and in the continuation achieved a 6-3 set.
In the second set, Ostapenko lost her first serve, but then with two breaks she took the lead again in the match and won the second set 6-3.
Both tennis players performed one ace each and Ostapenko had slightly more double faults (5/4).
The two tennis players had not played against each other until now.
Ostapenko was free from the first round, but in the match of the second round she beat the Spaniard Jessica Bouzas-Maneiro (WTA 93) 6-3, 6-1. Karle started the competition from the qualification, in which two Australian women won, but in the main tournament she prevailed with 6-2, 6-2 over the 2021 “US Open” champion Emma Radukana from Great Britain and with 6-4, 6-4 over the 17th seed of the tournament Russian Veronika Kudermetova (WTA 19th).
Ostapenko has won two titles this season and has an 18-7 win-loss record. Karle won her first WTA 125 title earlier this month and is 25-7 this season.
Ostapenko is also competing in the doubles competition at this tournament, playing alongside regular opponent Lyudmila Kichenok of Ukraine.
The tournament in Madrid takes place on clay courts.
