Unseeded Ostapenko stuns Halep in final
PARIS Jelena Ostapenko used bold strokes and an unbending will to upset No. 3 Simona Halep 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in an enthralling French Open final Saturday for the first title of her career.
Ostapenko, unseeded in the tournament and ranked only 47th and just two days past her 20th birthday, became one of the most unlikely grand slam champions in tennis history. She also denied Halep what would have been her first major championship and the No. 1 ranking.
Meanwhile, Canada’s Bianca Andreescu and Carson Branstine, the No. 1-ranked junior women’s doubles team, captured the French Open title, beating Russia’s Olesya Pervushina and Anastasia Potapova 6-1, 6-3.
As for Halep, she appeared on the way to a relative runaway, leading by a set and 3-0 in the second, then holding three break points for the chance to go ahead 4-0. But Ostapenko would not go quietly, winning that game and the next three en route to forcing a third set.
And then, in the third, Ostapenko again summoned a veteran’s resolve, taking the last five games after being down a break at 3-1. The Latvian took advantage of a bit of luck too, holding for a 5-3 lead when she hit a backhand that clipped the top of the net, popped way up in the air then dropped over onto Halep’s side.
Soon enough, Ostapenko was striking two more winners on the last two points to provide a fitting conclusion.
By the end, the numbers were stark: Ostapenko built a 54-8 edge in winners, but she also had far more unforced errors than Halep, 54-10.
Halep, a 25-year-old from Romania, was playing in her second major final. She was the runner-up to Maria Sharapova at Roland Garros in 2014.
Ostapenko was playing in only her eighth grand slam tournament, never having been past the third round before. She also had never before won a tour-level title of any sort. The last woman to win her first title at a major was Barbara Jordan at the 1979 Australian Open.