Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko stunned third seed Simona Halep 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Saturday to win her maiden Grand Slam title and become the lowest-ranked champion in French Open history.
A 100-1 outsider at the start of the tournament, she will rise from 47th to 12th in the world rankings following her spectacular victory.
Paris - French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko will head to Wimbledon as the sport's newest star admitting that she once believed grass courts were suitable only for football and not tennis. Thursday, June 8, 2017. I fought for every point.
"Of course", she said, "I didn't expect that when I came here".
"But then I learned how to play on it and understood the movement". I really enjoyed it. I think everyone has it, and it's good.
Jelena Ostapenko overpowered title favourite Simona Halep to become one of the most surprising grand slam champions of all time. I like, for example, to go to attraction parks and ride insane roller-coasters - to do sky jumps, things like that, because I like scary things.
It was a similar tale in the deciding set as Halep again saved break points in the opening game and raced to a 3-1 lead but again Ostapenko blasted her way out of trouble and didn't show any signs of nerves closing the match out.
Back came the Latvian, who enjoyed a huge stroke of fortune when a backhand clipped the top of the net and bounced down on Halep's side to give her a break for 4-3. All the credit for what you have done. It's an fantastic thing.
Halep said Ostapenko deserved to win the title.
Sure is. Quite a precocious one.
It was a match filled with wild momentum swings between two players displaying completely disparate styles: Ostapenko's grip-it-and-rip-it approach vs. Halep's more conservative keep-the-ball-in philosophy.
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As she improbably took the title, Ostapenko's aggressive style of play further endeared her to the Roland Garros crowd.
Jelena Ostapenko is confident she can take the attention in her stride as she targets more grand slam success at Wimbledon.
She is the first unseeded woman to win at Roland Garros since 1933.
She is also the first woman in 48 years to make a Grand Slam title her first title. She had previously won her quarter-final after trailing Elina Svitolina 3-6 1-5 and Halep was the latest victim of her determination.
Ostapenko's idol growing up, Serena Williams, is taking the rest of the season off while pregnant.
That all added up to an up-for-grabs feeling, and Ostapenko seized the opportunity. But as her record in the past two weeks suggested, she produced some of her best tennis when cornered.
When Halep faced the media soon after, it was all too clear how she felt.
But few would have imagined that Ostapenko, who had lost her only French Open match before this run, would be the one to capitalize. She does have her quirks of motivating herself, which range from hearty fist pumps after winning a point to her ebullient version of pointing her finger to her temple when trying to remonstrate with herself.
When the disappointment fades, she will remember that she played a solid tournament for six-plus matches. But Ostapenko would not go quietly, winning that game and the next three en route to forcing a third set.
Seven-times French Open champion Chris Evert was happy to stand corrected.
Halep went on to build a 3-0 lead into the second set. And the same scenario played out in the third.
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