The 2025 US Open was a major success, but when the tour moved south of the border, there were nothing but empty seats for the Round of 16 match between Jelena Ostapenko and Marina Stakusic.
The match is a part of the ongoing Guadalajara Open at Akron Tennis Stadium. It was originally scheduled for Thursday, but because of a rain delay, was played on Friday morning. Fans online were left shocked on seeing empty seats at the stadium.
“Did they forget to open the doors,” one wrote.
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"The way there is not a soul in the crowd LMFAOOOO," another commented.
"It's pretty low quality for a 500 event but that's embarrassing," one user took a shot at the tournament.
"The ppl are scared of Penko," one added.
"Garbage tournament," another posted.
"It's been a disaster. The bad scheduling, rain, subpar marketing, ownership issues, ops disasterclass, no high profile players, and a bad venue have killed this tournament," one added.
Some fans also provided clarification on why it might be the case. One wrote:
"The north americna/european mind cannot comprehend that in Latin America mostly everyone works until 6-7 pm from monday thru friday so people show up for night matches instead."
"This tournament has been around long enough for you to know mexican culture. They come out for evening matches," another added.
There can be several reasons why there was no turnout for the game. First, the match was on a weekday. Also, because of the reschedule, fans might not be able to arrange to attend the match. Moreover, evening matches are often preferred as opposed to morning.
Marina Stakusic defeats Jelena Ostapenko yet again at Guadalajara Open
The match between Marina Stakusic and Jelena Ostapenko lasted two hours and 33 minutes. Stakuci emerged victorious yet again (6-4, 6-7(6), 6-2), marking the second straight year she defeated Ostapenko at the Guadalajara Open. Stakusic came through qualifying to reach the main draw.
Both players smashed six aces each. Ostapenko committed 10 double faults as opposed to Stakusic's six. Stakusic converted three of four break point opportunities, while Ostapenko made good on two of three.
Jelena Ostapenko, who was the No. 3 seed in the Guadalajara Open, lasted until the second round of the US Open. Taylor Townsend defeated her in straight sets. Meanwhile, Stakusic couldn't make the main draw at Flushing Meadows, as she lost in the qualifiers.
