Paris: Jelena Ostapenko produced an astonishing fightback to overpower favourite Simona Halep 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the French Open women’s singles final here Saturday and become the first Latvian Grand Slam champion.
The 20-year-old looked down and out when Halep had points for a 4-0 lead in the second set but hit back with an audacious display of power to steamroller third-seeded Romanian Halep. Ostapenko also recovered from a break behind in the third set and finished the contest with a flashing backhand winner to become the first unseeded player to win the title since Briton Margaret Scriven in 1933.
Not only that but it was her first title of any kind, emulating the feat of Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten who won his first Tour crown at Roland Garros in 1997 on the day Ostapenko was born. Incredibly, she walloped 54 winners during the two-hour contest, matching her error count, as she threw caution to the wind on a boiling hot day on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Halep’s steady approached looked like taking her to a first Grand Slam title but she appeared drained at the end by the constant barrage coming from across the net. Not only did the third seed fall short in the Roland Garros final for the second time, but defeat also cost her the World No.1 ranking that would have come with victory.
Ostapenko, who turned 20 Thursday when she beat Swiss Timea Bacsinszky, threw her distinctive green headband into the crowd after a warm embrace with Halep who look devastated.
Career Highlights
2012 – Played first WTA qualifying at Moscow; won one singles title and one doubles title on ITF Circuit
2013 – Won two singles titles and four doubles titles on ITF Circuit
2014 – She made her WTA tour main draw debut at the Tashkent Open
2015 – First Top 100 season after reaching the second round at Wimbledon and US Open
2016 – Represented Latvia at the 2016 Rio Olympics where she lost to Australia’s Sam Stosur in the opening round
2017 – Before entering Roland Garros, she came close to winning three titles this year, losing in the semifinals at Auckland and Prague and the final at Charleston
Reuters