Jelena Ostapenko had never played in a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The 2017 French Open was the first she had entered.
Not since 1933 had an unseeded player won the French Open. That’s why no one expected her to beat Romania’s Simona Halep.
Halep had played on the big stage 30 times. Twice she reached the semi-finals and twice she reached the finals.
Halep won the first set, since 2001 a guarantee of victory. The 25-year-old Romanian then won the first three games of the second set—she was three games from the trophy.
But the 20-year old Latvian opponent fought back. She took four straight games and the second set.
Ostapenko hit 54 winners while winning the last two sets and the title.
She is the first Latvian to win a Grand Slam.