To all the people back home, I got lots of messages and support.
Stage fright is a very real prospect for a first-time finalist.
When the next WTA rankings are released on Monday, Jelena Ostapenko will join the game's elite.
It was not a case of Halep getting tight and choking on a lead but rather Ostapenko getting hot with her high-risk game and hitting her way out of trouble on both wings, so much so that one statistic revealed her forehand was an average hit faster than Andy Murray's.
She is the first unseeded woman to win the French Open since 1933.
Ostapenko set the tone from the first rally Saturday, winning it with a big backhand down the line that Halep could not handle. When serving at 5-4, Ostapenko smiled as the French crowd rose in a Mexican wave. To play final, it's an wonderful thing. Keep it going because you are only a kid.
Romania's Simona Halep clenches her fist after defeating Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic during their semifinal match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium, Thursday, June 8, 2017 in Paris.
"Of course, I would like to win probably all of the Grand Slams".
She will now climb from No. 47 in the world rankings to No. 12. She also had never before won a tour-level title of any sort.
She pursued ballroom dancing and contested the Latvian national championships before deciding to concentrate on tennis.
Giant panda born in Tokyo zoo, survival uncertain
Shin Shin and male panda Ri Ri, also 11, had a cub in 2012 but it died of pneumonia six days after birth. Panda births are extremely rare because of the great difficulties the animals have in conceiving.
Her fearless, frenetic energy gripped the tennis world. If she plays good, it's very hard that somebody can beat her. But none of that matter as the Latvian power-hitter overwhelmed one opponent after the other with her monster groundstrokes and carefree attitude. But Halep is mainly a defensive player, and does a great job of it, but she didn't quite have the luxury of being unscarred by failure. Maria Sharapova, who hasn't played in a Grand Slam tournament for 1½ years because of a 15-month doping ban, announced Saturday that she will not try to qualify for Wimbledon because of an injured left thigh.
Simona Halep (L) was beaten 4-6 6-4 6-3 in the French Open 2017 final.
The women's final at the French Open is underway. In the run-up to Paris, she had won the title in Madrid, made the finals in Rome and the semi-finals in Stuttgart. She deserved to win.
JELENA JAKOVLEVA, Ostapenko's mother, recalling her daughter's self-fulfilling prophecy, made 10 years ago.
The key game of the set came on the Halep serve at 4-4.
Halep's steady approached looked like taking her to a first grand slam title but she appeared drained at the end by the constant barrage coming from across the net.
There was disbelief too, amongst those who had predicted Ostapenko would not be able to reproduce the kind of tennis that has lit up Roland Garros over the past fortnight.
After telling herself to calm down on multiple occasions, Ostapenko started finding her range in the second set.
Ostapenko begins her grass-court season in Birmingham at the Aegon Classic, along with eight of the world's top 10, and will then head on to Eastbourne for the Aegon International. The match ended with a come-from-behind victory for Ostapenko, who defeated Halep 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
"I'd like to say congratulations to Simona, you had a great week, you played great, I hope you have many more finals and you will win it", said Ostapenko, who was a first-round loser at the tournament in 2016.
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