Tennis: Unseeded Ostapenko stuns Halep to win French Open title

Reuters , Saturday 10 Jun 2017

Simona Halep
SINGAPORE - Top seed Simona Halep was pooled with grand slam winners Maria Sharapova and Flavia Pennetta in a formidable looking Red Group for the end-of-season WTA Finals on Friday (Reuters)

Jelena Ostapenko stunned third seed Simona Halep with a 4-6 6-4 6-3 comeback victory in a thrilling French Open final on Saturday to become the first Latvian to win a grand slam title.

The 20-year-old Ostapenko, the first unseeded player to lift the Suzanne Lenglen Cup since Britain's Margaret Scriven in 1933, was 3-0 down in the second set when she overturned the situation.

Ostapenko, who hit a staggering 54 winners, won four games in a row and sent the match into a decider during which she overwhelmed her opponent on a sun-bathed Court Philippe Chatrier.

It was the second defeat in the final here for Romanian Halep, who was also bidding to become world number one by winning the trophy.

Ostapenko was the first woman since American Jennifer Capriati in 2001 to win the singles title at Roland Garros after losing the first set in the final.

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