Young upstart set for French final

PARIS — Jelena Ostapenko is a young woman in a hurry.

On the day she turned 20, Ostapenko became the first unseeded French Open finalist since 1983, using big and bold groundstrokes to end points lickety-split on the way to beating 30th-seeded Timea Bacsinszky 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-3 on Thursday.

“Her life is like this: Everything very fast,” said Ostapenko’s coach, former pro Anabel Medina Garrigues. “Hit fast. Walk fast. Talk fast.”

It’s true. How quickly did this come together for Ostapenko, the first tennis player from Latvia to reach a Grand Slam final? Not only is this just her eighth major tournament, but also she has yet to win a tour-level title of any sort.

“I mean, when I came here,” Ostapenko said, her words spilling out with nary a pause in between, “of course I didn’t expect I would be in the final.”

If Ostapenko were to win Saturday’s final, she would accomplish something no tennis player has managed to do since, coincidentally, the day she was born: earn a first tour-level title at a Grand Slam tournament.

The last to do it? Gustavo Kuerten, who won the men’s trophy at Roland Garros on June 8, 1997.

Tthe 47th-ranked Ostapenko will face No. 3 seed Simona Halep, who got past 2016 U.S. Open runner-up Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the second compelling semifinal.

While Ostapenko is assured of making her debut in the top 20 next week thanks to her surprising showing at the French Open, there is more at stake for the No. 3seeded Halep: In addition to a chance for Grand Slam title No. 1, a victory would allow the 25-year-old to seize the No. 1 ranking for the first time, too.

This is the second major final for Halep, the runner-up to Maria Sharapova at Roland Garros three years ago.

“I hope this time I can play better,” Halep said, “and I can win it.”