Simona Halep has beaten No. 2 Karolina Pliskova to reach the French Open final, where she will face the unseeded Jelena Ostapenko.
However, with the final now set, Halep can turn her attention to Ostapenko, claiming the No. 1 seed and her first Grand Slam.
Ostapenko, the world number 47, is the first unseeded player to reach the final at Roland Garros since Mima Jausovec in 1983.
Ostapenko will also play for her first Grand Slam title after she beat Timea Bacsinszky earlier on Philippe-Chatrier.
Following a last eight win over Denmark's former world number one Caroline Wozniacki, Ostapenko became the first teenager to reach the penultimate stage of the Grand Slam event since 2007, when Serbia's Ana Ivanovic achieved the feat.
- Dabrowski contesting in her maiden grand slam final became the first Canadian woman to win the mixed title at Roland Garros.
The second-seeded Czech fended off three break points on her way to claiming the second set 6-3, clinching it with a forehand victor on her second set point. "I was already in the semis, and I was just trying to enjoy the game and show my best".
In the end, she could at least reflect on progress in Paris - before this year, she had never got beyond the second round in five attempts.
When it was, Ostapenko also ensured becoming the youngest French Open finalist since Ana Ivanovic in 2007. In the victory, Ostapenko won 55 percent of her first serve points and 40 percent of her second serve points.
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"I was like, '(It) was match point for her?'" Halep said.
Pliskova refused to go down without a fight and broke back to trail 4-3 with yet more strong hitting, but Halep was on a mission and regained her advantage courtesy of another stray forehand from the Czech before serving out the match.
Her successful all-or-nothing approach saw her fire 50 winners and 45 unforced errors against Bacsinszky.
Kuerten won that year's French Open - the first of three Roland Garros titles for the Brazilian - on the same day Ostapenko was born. "I'm just happy with the way I celebrated my birthday!" said Jelena Ostapenko, who turned 20 on Thursday, after her semi-final win.
"I m not ashamed to say that she played better".
But the Romanian survived, saving a match point in the process, and will perhaps think her name is on the trophy. She has proven time and time again that she is very much an "in the moment" tennis player.
"This was my second time, so going forward, I think this can help me build more confidence".
Halep lost in the 2014 final in Paris, but has belief that she can lift the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen three years later and replace Angelique Kerber at the top of the rankings.
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