PARIS (AP) — Unseeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia used bold strokes and an unbending will to come back and stun No. 3 Simona Halep 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in an enthralling French Open final for the first title of her career.
Ostapenko, 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.
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.
The last woman to win her first tour-level title at a major was Barbara Jordan at the 1979 Australian Open. Not coincidentally, that was also the last time at any Grand Slam tournament that none of the women’s quarterfinalists had previously won a major championship.
Michael Venus of New Zealand and Ryan Harrison of the United States have won the men’s doubles final at the French Open.
The duo beat Donald Young, who is also from the U.S., and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 6-3.
They clinched their second tour-level title — and their first at a Grand Slam tournament — on their second match point, when Gonzalez hit a forehand long.
