Wozniacki wipes out at French Open

With the unbridled joy of a kid reaching heights she never has, and the go-for-it strokes of someone too bold to know better, an unseeded 19-year-old from Latvia, Jelena Ostapenko, beat former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 at the French Open on a rainy Tuesday to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal.

Ostapenko sent shots toward the lines and put them right where she wanted often enough to deliver 38 winners — 32 more than the defensive-minded Wozniacki, a twotime runner-up at majors.

“I knew,” the 47th-ranked Ostapenko said, “I had to be aggressive all match.”

Ostapenko, who is now 4-0 against Wozniacki, will next face 30th-seeded Timea Bacsinszky, who eliminated 13th-seeded Kristina Mladenovic 6-4, 6-4.

Both women’s quarter-finals were interrupted twice because of showers. The first delay lasted more than three hours, the second about a half-hour. The men’s quarter-finals involving Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic were postponed until Wednesday.

When the women’s matches began, the wind averaged 30 kilometres an hour with gusts up to 85 km/h, making balls swerve oddly. Serve tosses were an adventure. Players repeatedly wiped their eyes to get rid of dust kicked up from the clay court.

“We had all the seasons rolled into one today. We had a hurricane, a sandstorm, and we almost had snow, too,” Bacsinszky told the crowd at Court Philippe Chatrier. “It was really tough to keep my concentration all day long. I feel exhausted — and I’m sure you do, too.”

Before last week, Ostapenko had never been past the third round of any Grand Slam tournament. Now she will play for a berth in the final on Thursday, which happens to be her 20th birthday and Bacsinszky’s 28th.