Jelena Ostapenko becomes the first unseeded player since 1933 to win the French Open title. (0:57)

PARIS -- Right from the start of the French Open final, Jelena Ostapenko made quite clear to anyone unfamiliar with her name, or her game, what she is all about.

Yes, she was just two days past her 20th birthday. Yes, she was ranked only 47th. Yes, she was trying to become the first unseeded women's champion at the tournament since -- get this -- 1933. And yes, she was trying to become the first woman in nearly four decades to make a Grand Slam title the first tour-level triumph of her career.

None of that mattered to Ostapenko.

She began what would become an enthralling 2-hour encounter by breaking No. 3-seeded Simona Halep at love with a series of grip-it-and-rip-it shots. So what if Ostapenko wound up dropping that set, then facing big deficits in the second and third? Ostapenko never wavered, using bold strokes and an unbending will to come back and stun Halep 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 for an unlikely championship at Roland Garros.

"Before the match, 5-10 minutes, I was a little bit nervous," said Ostapenko, the first Latvian -- woman or man -- to win a major. "But then, when I went on court, I felt quite free."

Halep, a 25-year-old from Romania, was the 2014 French Open runner-up and would have moved up to No. 1 in the WTA rankings if she had won Saturday. She appeared headed for a runaway victory when up a set and 3-0 in the second, plus holding three break points for the chance to lead 4-0.

Ostapenko, however, would not go quietly, winning that game and the next three en route to forcing a third set.

"I felt a little bit nervous," said Ostapenko, the first woman since Jennifer Capriati in 2001 to win the French Open after losing the final's opening set. "But then I felt: 'I have nothing to lose, so I'm just going to enjoy the match and do my best."

She again summoned a veteran's resolve down 3-1 in the third set, taking the match's last five games and, fittingly, striking a pair of winners on the last two points.

"Enjoy, be happy, and keep it going," Halep told Ostapenko during the trophy ceremony, "because you're like a kid."

Jelena Ostapenko, at 20, became the youngest winner of the French Open since Iva Majoli in 1997. AP Photo/Christophe Ena

Ostapenko was playing in only her eighth Grand Slam tournament and never had been past the third round before. Clay isn't even her preferred surface -- she likes grass better, and won the Wimbledon junior title in 2014 -- which made this two-week joyride even more unpredictable.

Consider: Last year in Paris, Ostapenko lost in the first round. The year before that, she lost in the first round of qualifying.

"Everybody knows she can play very good, but I think nobody expected (her) to (do) what she did," said Anabel Medina Garrigues, who began coaching Ostapenko in April.

Asked why Ostapenko never won a WTA Tour event until now, Medina Garrigues began answering, then interrupted herself after 10 words and laughed.

"I mean, I don't know," she said. "Actually, it's something I cannot understand. It's unbelievable."

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.

So Ostapenko stepped into the considerable opening created by the absences of Serena Williams (who is pregnant) and Maria Sharapova (denied a wild card after a drug ban). Also missing was two-time major champ Victoria Azarenka, while No. 1 Angelique Kerber lost in the first round.

Ostapenko burst onto the scene with a brash brand of tennis. Things went her way to the tune of 54 winners, a remarkably high total that was 46 more than the defensive-minded Halep. She also made 54 unforced errors, to Halep's 10.

Said Halep's coach, Darren Cahill, of Ostapenko at her best: "You don't touch the ball. You become a spectator."

A telling statistic: Of the 33 points Halep won in the first set, only one came via a winner off her racket.

Still, there were plenty of entertaining points during the back-and-forth match between the disparate styles. But the difference on this day: Halep faded at the end of the second and third sets, while Ostapenko surged, bringing her mother -- a tennis instructor who taught young Jelena how to play -- to tears in the stands.

"I've been sick in the stomach with emotion," Halep said. "Maybe I was not ready to win it."

Ostapenko certainly was ready, sooner than even she could imagine.</s>Jelena Ostapenko blew away favourite Simona Halep to win her first ever pro tournament at the French Open.

The world No 47, who only turned 20 on Thursday, hit 54 winners past the world No 3 in an extraordinary final. She also made 54 unforced errors.

The Latvian saved points to go 0-4 down in the second set to win 4-6 6-4 6-3 in two thrilling hours – and sealed the fairytale win with another backhand winner down the line.

With Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova absent, a new star has been born.

Halep, who lost the 2014 final here to Sharapova, would have become world No 1 by winning her first Grand Slam title.

The rollercoaster match saw 14 breaks of serve and 35 break points.

The Roland Garros crowd chanted Ostapenko's name during the match – and she was given a huge ovation after the shock victory.

“I still cannot believe I have won,” she said. “I watched it as a child and it was always my dream to win here.

"I knew that Simona is a great player and she was playing great. I was missing but I was still trying to play aggressive. A couple of games turned it my way and I glad I could win.”

Ostapenko is the youngest Roland Garros champion since 19-year-old Iva Majoli in 1997 – and the first unseeded winner winner in the Open era.

The last player to win their first Tour-level title at a Grand Slam was Gustavo Kuerten here on June 8 1997 - the same day Ostapenko was born.

“I knew that and I am really, really happy,” said the 20-year-old.

Eurosport analyst Chris Evert said: “This is what we have needed in the sport – new, fresh faces. We don't know what is going to happen with Serena. And players now play beyond 30.

"We have been starving for some young faces and now we have one. It has been a great day for everyone since Simona Halep. She has got to feel terrible.”</s>Ostapenko first talked of winning French Open at 10, says mother

PARIS (Reuters) - Few other people saw it coming but Jelena Ostapenko's mother was not surprised that her daughter burst into the limelight to claim the French Open title in spectacular fashion on Saturday.

The unseeded Ostapenko, 20, downed Romanian third seed Simona Halep 4-6 6-4 6-3 in the final, hitting a staggering 54 winners and taking her tournament tally to 299.

Those numbers are counter-balanced by her unforced errors -- 54 on Saturday and 271 in total -- but they were not enough to stop the energy-charged Ostapenko from bulldozing her way to the title, firing faster forehands on average than men's world number one Andy Murray.

Asked when she realised her daughter had so much power, Jelena Jakovleva said: "The day she was born.

"She had the same energy when she was little, it was very difficult," Jakovleva, who coaches her daughter, told a group of reporters at Roland Garros.

"She danced, swam, played tennis, she played football because she had so much energy.

"She's fearless, she fights for every point."

Ostapenko was 10 when she first mentioned winning the French Open one day, Jakovleva said.

"She was on an excursion with her father at Roland Garros and she said maybe one time I will become a champion here."

Two years later, in 2009, she would win the Open 10-12 in the 12-year-old category, at the Tennis Club de Boulogne Billancourt, a stone's throw from Roland Garros, joining Amelie Mauresmo and Justine Henin on the list of winners.

Jakovleva stayed home in Latvia during the first week of this year's French Open but even after she arrived in Paris she could not watch her daughter's matches from the stands.

"I was nervous," she said. "And Jelena has more focus if I'm not there."

At the Australian Open, Ostapenko lost her nerve in the third round when serving for the match at 5-2 in the decider against Karolina Pliskova, eventually losing 4-6 6-0 10-8.

"At the Australian Open she played very well but lost when 5-2 up. We worked on that and changed a few things and she now is psychologically stronger," Jakovleva explained.

Ostapenko, who will rise to world number 12 from 47 following Saturday's win, also worked a lot on her forehand, which was then her weakest shot.

"Her forehand was so-so. So she worked hard on it."

Halep realised just how hard her opponent had worked on that on Saturday.

"She can take the racket out of your hands," Halep's coach Darren Cahill said.</s>At one point Saturday, it looked as if Simona Halep was on her way to her first ever major victory. She'd won the first set of the French Open against her unseeded opponent, and despite fierce play from Jelena Ostapenko, few onlookers expected the unseeded Latvian to mount a comeback.

So much for that.

On the strength of an unrelentingly aggressive attack, hitting just about as many unforced errors as she did winners, Ostapenko ultimately wore down Halep, taking the second and third sets in thrilling fashion. Ostapenko, only a few days removed from her 20th birthday, upset Halep to take home her own first-ever major.

"I cannot believe I am champion at 20 years old. I love you guys. It's so amazing to be here," she said after the match.

She added: "I knew Simona was a great player. But I tried to play aggressive and everything turned my way. I fought for every point. I'm glad it finished my way."

As The New York Times reports, Saturday's win makes Ostapenko the first unseeded woman to win the French Open since 1933. The paper notes she is also the first Latvian ever to win a singles Grand Slam.</s>She did it! Jelena Ostapenko has claimed her first ever Grand Slam title by winning the 2017 French Open in epic style. We’ve got the details on her amazing victory over Simona Halep on June 10.

It was David versus Goliath in the French Open women’s final, as 20-year-old unseeded Latvian Jelena Ostapenko took on veteran Simona Halep, 25, in an epic match. Romanian Simona knew going in that winning the tournament would make her the new number one seeded player in women’s tennis, so she came to play hard! Yet Jelena had battled past some of the best ladies in the tourney in her quest to make history as an unseeded victor. Ultimately Jelena Ostapenko came out on top and celebrated her first ever Grand Slam win and she couldn’t have been more thrilled!

Jelena came out with her powerful serve right from the start, but Simona put up a fight. She came back right away after Jelena made a few errors. The ladies each won at set as they battled through the third. Jelena had some moments where she struggled, but never let it get to her. She came back to win it all with 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win!

If she would have won, Simona would have been the top ranked player on the circuit with this win, knocking off Germany’s Angelique Kerber, 29, at the number one spot. She made history by becoming the first Romanian to win a Grand Slam title since Virginia Ruzici won Roland Garros back in 1978. Before the match she said, “It is nice to be in the final again. I hope I can play better and win it. I’m playing a young player — it is a big challenge.” Experience triumphed over youth with her big win. She had made it to the French Open finals once before, losing in 2014 to Maria Sharapova, 30. She almost had first Grand Slam career win!

Jelena’s upset will go down as one of the greatest achievement in women’s tennis. She became only the second woman ever to win the tournament as an unseeded player. Britain’s Peggy Scriven was the first and that happened back in 1933! So the feat took 84 YEARS to happen again! What a huge win, making Jelena’s incredible victory one for the ages.

Jelena already made history simply by making it into the finals. The incredible feat comes 34 years after the last time an unseeded player made it all the way to the championship round, as Mimi Jausovec lost to legendary Chris Evert in the final of the 1983 Open. Jelena had taken out 11th ranked Caroline Wozniacki, 26 in the quarterfinals and Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky, 28, in the semi’s, and Simona was her toughest opponent of the tournament. What an incredible match by two amazing players!

HollywoodLifers, are you happy that Jelena Ostapenko won the French Open? Are you a tennis fan?</s>The French Open is over for another year, in what has been a fabulous tournament in 2017.

Rafael Nadal and Jelena Ostapenko were crowned as champions after two weeks of highly competitive and entertaining tennis to cap off a thoroughly intriguing clay-court season.

But before we turn our attention to the grass-court season and the build-up to Wimbledon, now seems the perfect moment to look back at some of the biggest moments and talking points from Roland Garros.

Nadal potentially winning la decima has dominated headlines throughout and it finally came to fruition on Sunday.

He dropped just 35 games on his way to the title and didn’t even come close to losing a set on his way to becoming the first player in the Open Era to win 10 titles at one Grand Slam.

MORE: La decima is just the start – Rafael Nadal will be world No. 1 by the end of the year

While Nadal continued adding to his legacy, young Ostapenko came out of nowhere to shock the world.

Ranked at 47 in the WTA leaderboard, Ostapenko stunned the world with a win over Simona Halep.

 She’s the first Grand Slam winner from Latvia and will now rise to No. 12 in the rankings.

One year after winning the title at Roland Garros to hold all four majors at once, Djokovic’s career is all of a sudden in tatters.

He’s dropped down to world No. 4 after Dominic Thiem dumped him out in Paris and he’s toyed with the idea of having a break from the game.

Whether he can come back from this latest setback remains to be seen, but Djokovic’s future is a real concern right now.

One player who made the headlines for all the wrong reasons was Maxime Hamou.

The French ace groped journalist Maly Thomas mid-interview, refusing to let her go and kissing her on the cheek, while she clearly wanted him to stop.

He was subsequently banned by event organisers.

Venus Williams may have fallen in the fourth round but just by featuring at Roland Garros she made a piece of history.

The American was the first female to play the event for a 20th time – two decades worth of action.

One of the most emotional moments at the French Open was Steve Johnson breaking down after his second-round match win over Borna Coric.

The American’s father had died in the month preceding the event and he was clearly overwhelmed.

Finally, there was another very emotional moment, this time involving Juan Martin del Potro and Nicolas Almagro.

The Spaniard injured his knee and was forced to retire but Del Potro – a man who has suffered from plenty of injuries himself – showed his truly caring side as he comforted his opponent on court as he sobbed.</s>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. (AP Photo/David Vincent)

PARIS (AP) -- Third-seeded Simona Halep of Romania will face unseeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in the women's final at the French Open.

The winner Saturday will be a first-time Grand Slam champion.

If Halep wins, she also will move up to No. 1 in the rankings for the first time. She was the runner-up at Roland Garros in 2014.

The 20-year-old Ostapenko had never been past the third round at a Grand Slam tournament until this one. This is only the eighth major of her career.

The men's doubles final is also Saturday, with two Americans on opposite sides: Ryan Harrison of the U.S. and Michael Venus of New Zealand go up against Donald Young of the U.S. and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico.</s>Paris: Few other people saw it coming but Jelena Ostapenko`s mother was not surprised that her daughter burst into the limelight to claim the French Open title in spectacular fashion on Saturday.

The unseeded Ostapenko, 20, downed Romanian third seed Simona Halep 4-6 6-4 6-3 in the final, hitting a staggering 54 winners and taking her tournament tally to 299.

Those numbers are counter-balanced by her unforced errors -- 54 on Saturday and 271 in total -- but they were not enough to stop the energy-charged Ostapenko from bulldozing her way to the title, firing faster forehands on average than men`s world number one Andy Murray.

Asked when she realised her daughter had so much power, Jelena Jakovleva said: "The day she was born.

"She had the same energy when she was little, it was very difficult," Jakovleva, who coaches her daughter, told a group of reporters at Roland Garros.

"She danced, swam, played tennis, she played football because she had so much energy.

"She`s fearless, she fights for every point."

Ostapenko was 10 when she first mentioned winning the French Open one day, Jakovleva said.

"She was on an excursion with her father at Roland Garros and she said maybe one time I will become a champion here."

Two years later, in 2009, she would win the Open 10-12 in the 12-year-old category, at the Tennis Club de Boulogne Billancourt, a stone`s throw from Roland Garros, joining Amelie Mauresmo and Justine Henin on the list of winners.

Jakovleva stayed home in Latvia during the first week of this year`s French Open but even after she arrived in Paris she could not watch her daughter`s matches from the stands.

"I was nervous," she said. "And Jelena has more focus if I`m not there."

At the Australian Open, Ostapenko lost her nerve in the third round when serving for the match at 5-2 in the decider against Karolina Pliskova, eventually losing 4-6 6-0 10-8.

"At the Australian Open she played very well but lost when 5-2 up. We worked on that and changed a few things and she now is psychologically stronger," Jakovleva explained.

Ostapenko, who will rise to world number 12 from 47 following Saturday`s win, also worked a lot on her forehand, which was then her weakest shot.

"Her forehand was so-so. So she worked hard on it."

Halep realised just how hard her opponent had worked on that on Saturday.

"She can take the racket out of your hands," Halep`s coach Darren Cahill said.</s>PARIS >> Right from the start of the French Open final, Jelena Ostapenko made quite clear to anyone unfamiliar with her name, or her game, what she is all about.

Yes, she was just two days past her 20th birthday. Yes, she was ranked only 47th. Yes, she was trying to become the first unseeded women’s champion at the tournament since — get this — 1933. And yes, she was trying to become the first woman in nearly four decades to make a Grand Slam title the first tour-level triumph of her career. None of that mattered to Ostapenko.

She began what would become an enthralling, 2-hour encounter by breaking No. 3-seeded Simona Halep at love with a series of grip-it-and-rip-it shots , eliciting loud, appreciative gasps from spectators. So what if Ostapenko wound up dropping that set, then facing big deficits in the second and third? Ostapenko never wavered, using bold strokes and an unbending will to come back and stun Halep 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 for an unlikely championship at Roland Garros.

“Before the match, 5-10 minutes, I was a little bit nervous,” said Ostapenko, the first Latvian to win a major. “But then, when I went on court, I felt quite free.”

Halep, a 25-year-old from Romania, was the 2014 French Open runner-up and would have moved up to No. 1 in the WTA rankings if she had won June 10. She appeared headed for a runaway victory when up a set and 3-0 in the second, plus holding three break points for the chance to lead 4-0. But Ostapenko would not go quietly, winning that game and the next three en route to forcing a third set.

“I felt a little bit nervous,” said Ostapenko, the first woman since Jennifer Capriati in 2001 to win the French Open after losing the final’s opening set. “But then I felt: ‘I have nothing to lose, so I’m just going to enjoy the match and do my best.”’

She again summoned a veteran’s resolve down 3-1 in the third set, taking the match’s last five games and, fittingly, striking a pair of winners on the last two points.

“Enjoy, be happy, and keep it going,” Halep told Ostapenko during the trophy ceremony , “because you’re like a kid.”

Sure is. Quite a precocious one.

Ostapenko was playing in only her eighth Grand Slam tournament and never had been past the third round before. Clay isn’t even her preferred surface — she likes grass better, and won the Wimbledon junior title in 2014 — which made this two-week joyride even more unpredictable.

Consider: Last year in Paris, Ostapenko lost in the first round. The year before that, she lost in the first round of qualifying.

“Everybody knows she can play very good, but I think nobody expected (her) to (do) what she did,” said Anabel Medina Garrigues, who began coaching Ostapenko in April.

Asked why Ostapenko never won a WTA Tour event until now, Medina Garrigues began answering, then interrupted herself after 10 words and laughed.

“I mean, I don’t know,” she said. “Actually, it’s something I cannot understand. It’s unbelievable.”

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.

So Ostapenko stepped into the considerable opening created by the absences of Serena Williams (who is pregnant) and Sharapova (denied a wild card after a drug ban). Also missing was two-time major champ Victoria Azarenka, while No. 1 Angelique Kerber lost in the first round.

Ostapenko burst onto the scene with a brash brand of tennis. Accenting shots with high-pitched exhales, she likes points quick. The impatience of youth not only showed up in Ostapenko’s play but also, occasionally, in her demeanor. When she’d miss, she would slap her thigh or crack her racket on the red clay or raise a palm as if to say, “What was up with that shot?”

Things went her way to the tune of 54 winners, a remarkably high total that was 46 more than the defensive-minded Halep. Ostapenko also made 54 unforced errors, to Halep’s 10.

When Ostapenko is at her best, Halep’s coach, Darren Cahill said, “You don’t touch the ball. You become a spectator.”

A telling statistic: Of the 33 points Halep won in the first set, only one came via a winner off her racket.

Still, there were plenty of entertaining points during the back-and-forth match between the disparate styles, played in a slight breeze with the temperature at about 80 degrees (above 25 Celsius) and with nary a cloud marking the azure sky.

But the difference on this day: Halep faded at the end of the second and third sets, while Ostapenko surged, bringing her mother — a tennis instructor who taught young Jelena how to play — to tears in the stands.

“I’ve been sick in the stomach with emotion,” Halep said. “Maybe I was not ready to win it.”

Ostapenko certainly was ready, sooner than even she could imagine.</s>Simona Halep set up a French Open final against Jelena Ostapenko on Thursday, taking her to within touching distance of a first Grand Slam title and the world number one spot. Romanian third seed Halep, the runner-up to Maria Sharapova in 2014, claimed a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over Karolina Pliskova, the second-seeded Czech. Unseeded Ostapenko downed Timea Bacsinszky 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 6-3 on her 20th birthday to become the first Latvian finalist at a major. The eventual champion on Saturday will be a first-time major winner while victory for Halep would crown her as the new world number one, replacing Angelique Kerber. “It’s an amazing feeling right now,” said 25-year-old Halep after her fifth win in six meetings against Pliskova, the world number three.

 “It was extremely tough today as Karolina is a very tough opponent. “To be in the final again is great. I hope to win this time. “But I am facing a young opponent, it will be a big challenge.” Pliskova ended the tie with 45 winners and a staggering 55 unforced errors. In contrast, Halep registered 14 in both columns. For Halep, the win came just a day after she saved a match point and came from a set and 1-5 to beat Elina Svitolina in the last eight. Pliskova, the 25-year-old Czech, would have taken the world top spot if she had made her second Slam final.

 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.

 Ostapenko presented herself with the perfect 20th birthday gift by reaching a first French Open final after blasting past 30th seed Bacsinszky, a semi-finalist also in 2015.

 “I’m really happy to be in the final, especially on my birthday. I think it’s a nice gift,” said Ostapenko, whose win was greeted by the crowd singing ‘happy birthday’.

 The world number 47 is the first unseeded player to reach the final in Paris since Mima Jausovec in 1983.

 Ostapenko is also the youngest woman to advance to the final of a major since a 19-year-old Caroline Wozniacki finished runner-up at the 2009 US Open.

 “I was always playing aggressive and hitting the ball when I have a chance,” said Ostapenko, who smacked 50 winners to Bacsinszky’s 22.“It was a really tough match. I think it was a battle.

 “I think it was kind of important that I won the first set, even the second I lost, but in the third set I found my game again.

 “I felt a little bit tight because…I was very close to making the final and some thoughts were in my mind,” added Ostapenko, whose previous best run at a Slam was reaching the third round at the Australian Open.

 “But then I was just trying to be calm and just to try to play my game and just enjoy every moment.”For Bacsinszky it was a second semi-final defeat in Paris.

 “Of course I’m disappointed. I’m a competitor, and it really annoys me not to be in the final,” said Bacsinszky, who was beaten on her 28th birthday. “I’m not ashamed to say that she played better. She was braver. She had more courage. She was more successful.”—AFP
In tennis, Jeļena Ostapenko of Latvia defeats Simona Halep of Romania 4–6, 6–4, 6–3 in the Women's Singles of the French Open. It is Ostapenko's first WTA Tour title, making her the first woman to earn her first tour victory at a Grand Slam event since Barbara Jordan at the 1979 Australian Open. She also becomes the first Latvian of either sex to win a Grand Slam event and the first unseeded woman to win the French Open since 1933.