Ostapenko fights back for a great big surprise

JELENA Ostapenko told herself to enjoy the French Open final when her position seemed hopeless and ended it as one of the most unlikely grand slam champions of all time.

The 20-year-old had never been beyond the third round at a slam before arriving in Paris, nor won a senior title.

But she was unfazed, hitting 54 winners in a 4-6 6-4 6-3 victory over title favourite Simona Halep to become Latvia’s first grand slam singles champion.

The country’s president called to congratulate her after the semi-finals while the final was shown on a big screen in Riga.

At 47 in the rankings, Ostapenko is also the lowest-ranked and first unseeded champion at Roland Garros in the Open era.

When she drilled a final backhand winner down the line, she dropped her racket to the clay and held her arms aloft in delight and disbelief.

“I still cannot believe it, because it was my dream and Halep, right, congratulates Ostapenko on her ladies singles win now it came true,” she said. “I think I’m going to only understand that in maybe a couple of days or a couple of weeks.”

Ostapenko had blasted her way into the final on the back of 245 winners – more than any other player in the draw, man or woman.

But Ostapenko had made nearly as many errors and the challenge for her was to keep the ratio in her favour.

This was the classic contrast of styles, with Halep a superb mover and defender, but ultimately aggression won out.

What was most remarkable was how Ostapenko defied her lack of experience to fight back Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia celebrates her victory with the French from a seemingly position.

Halep, beaten by Maria Sharapova in the final here in 2014, had been the favourite and looked to be cruising at a set and 3-0, with points for 4-0.

But Ostapenko trusted in her game and then came from behind again in the decider, hopeless winning the final five games.

She said: “I knew I’m already in the final and I’m playing such a great player as Simona.

“And I was losing 6-4 3-0, and then in my mind I was thinking, ‘I’m just going to enjoy the match, and I will try to fight until the last point’.

“And then I stayed aggressive