The third seed, who will become world No. 1 if she defeats Ostapenko in Saturday's showdown, benefited from her opponent's unforced errors in the first set before Pliskova rediscovered her touch.
"Not finished", Simona Halep quipped when asked to reflect on her French Open campaign after handling Czech Karolina Pliskova's power to reach her second final at Roland Garros.
Earlier, Ostapenko won her birthday battle against Bacsinszky to become the first unseeded woman to reach the French Open final for 34 years.
Ostapenko, who turned 20 on Thursday, becomes the first unseeded player to reach the French Open final after Mimi Jausovec in 1983.
Ostapenko fell in the first round on her main draw debut here past year but is one win away from becoming the first player since Gustavo Kuerten in 1997 to win their maiden tour-level title at a Slam.
"But then, like, first match was a tough match and I won it and it kind of gave me confidence". Ostapenko's run is all the more remarkable given her third-round exit at this year's Australian Open represented her best previous Grand Slam performance.
Bacsinszky also celebrates a birthday Thursday.
The American questioned which of the last four survivors - Simona Halep, Karolina Pliskova, Timea Bacsinszky or Jelena Ostapenko - would rise to the challenge of winning their first grand slam in the absence of so many big names.
Despite failing to record a single ace while Pliskova notched seven, per the IBM Slamtracker, it was the French contender's unforced error count that proved her undoing, conceding a massive 55 to Halep's 14.
Pliskova would cut the deficit to 4-3 only to blaze a forehand long, leaving Halep to serve out the match after two hours.
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The second seed did find a way through to get the match back on serve at 3-4 but Halep broke immediately again and went on to set up a clash with 20-year-old Latvian Ostapenko. "I think it's a nice gift", said Ostapenko, whose win was greeted by the crowd singing "happy birthday".
".I don't think it's better, but somehow I'm just winning".
"I never played against her", Halep said.
Yet Halep took that setback in her stride to put the squeeze on a tiring Pliskova as she surged into a 4-1 lead in the decider. I had played three in all my life.
"I was always playing aggressive and hitting the ball when I have a chance", said Ostapenko, who smacked 50 winners to Bacsinszky's 22.
- Bacsinszky took a medical timeout to receive treatment on her right leg while trailing 4-3.
"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".
Earlier, India's Rohan Bopanna and Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski saved two match points to claim their first Grand Slam title with victory in the French Open mixed doubles final.
Pliskova then broke to level the set but Halep broke straight back to leave the Romanian serving for the match.
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