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An outstanding performance by Ostapenko, the Latvian who only turned 20 three days ago. She is beaming, as are her team in the player’s box. Her family are overjoyed. She only knows one way to play, a refreshing, relentless attacking style and we might be seeing plenty of her for a while yet. Anyway, now is for you to get carried away as I am of. Thanks a lot for your company. Bye!
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Jelena Ostapenko wins French Open!
Third set: Ostapenko 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 Halep* (* denotes server)
The 20-year-old wins her first ever title. And what a way to win it, with a couple of stupendous shots – namely a nonchalant backhand – to fend off Halep, who had battled superbly herself. Ostapenko’s mother is in tears.
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Third set: Ostapenko* 4-6, 6-4, 5-3 Halep (* denotes server)
Ostapenko goes 40-15 up and then calmly swings a cross-court backhand far and beyond Halep. That is four games in a row for the Latvian ...
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Third set: Ostapenko 4-6, 6-4, 4-3 Halep* (* denotes server)
Ostapenko goes ahead for the first time in this third set!
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Third set: Ostapenko* 4-6, 6-4, 3-3 Halep (* denotes server)
Ostapenko plays a looping, defensive shot for seemingly the first time this afternoon. That gets her off to a decent start at 15-0. Then there’s a sublime cross-court backhand. Then she finds another absurd angle with ease. Then she pulls out an ace. This is a special performance. Oh, and we have new balls too.
Third set: Ostapenko 4-6, 6-4, 2-3 Halep* (* denotes server)
Ostapenko just keeps on fighting! She just seems to thrive on being up against it. There are now 50 unforced errors against her name but Ostapenko will not care an inch, as she moves back to within a game of Halep.
Third set: Ostapenko* 4-6, 6-4, 1-3 Halep (* denotes server)
Halep storms into a 0-40 lead before taking the game at 15-40. Ostapenko has just lost her way a little in the last couple of games but we know what that usually means. As much as she has been visibly angered at times, she has never given up.
Third set: Ostapenko 4-6, 6-4, 1-2 Halep* (* denotes server)
Ostapenko gets sloppy but credit to Halep, who slogged that game out and forced the Latvian into trouble.
Third set: Ostapenko* 4-6, 6-4, 1-1 Halep (* denotes server)
Why worry about unforced errors when you can keep finding winners?
Third set: Ostapenko 4-6, 6-4, 0-1 Halep* (* denotes server)
Halep battles back to deuce then gains advantage with a wonderful volley that totally bypasses a static Ostapenko. The 20-year-old surrenders two game points to let Halep back in to snatch it.
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Jelena Ostapenko wins second set!
Second set: Ostapenko* 4-6, 6-4 Halep (* denotes server)
Ostapenko finds a couple of stupendous short angles before powering a phenomenal forehand down the line. And just as Ostapenko has shown plenty of resistance here, the French crowd have broken theirs as they flow into a first Mexico wave of the afternoon.
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Second set: Ostapenko 4-6, 5-4 Halep* (* denotes server)
Here we go again, as the 20-year-old races into a 40-0 lead. Ostapenko will now serve to take this into a final set.
Second set: Ostapenko* 4-6, 4-4 Halep (* denotes server)
“Je-le-na, Je-le-na” comes the delirious chant at Roland Garros. Every time Ostapenko gets a lead, she turns a little sloppy, as Halep is gifted the eighth game of this set. Halep looks totally in the zone now, refocused. She has no intentions of letting this slip into a third set.
Second set: Ostapenko 4-6, 4-3 Halep* (* denotes server)
Ostapenko sends a flying forehand across court, which has the umpire off his seat. It’s in and the 20-year-old is ahead in this second set. Four games in a row!
Second set: Ostapenko* 4-6, 3-3 Halep (* denotes server)
“Simona, Simona!” comes the chant from Halep’s supporters inside Chatrier. Just as it looks as though all momentum is with Ostapenko, at 15-0 up, those pesky unforced errors sneak in, a couple of sloppy serves and the No3 seed is back in charge. But, hang on a minute ... back comes Ostapenko to take her third game in a row.
Second set: Ostapenko 4-6, 2-3 Halep* (* denotes server)
Well, well, well.
Second set: Ostapenko* 4-6, 1-3 Halep (* denotes server)
Halep wobbles a little and Ostapenko obliges after surviving three break points. The numbers are just bonkers for Ostapenko: 32 unforced errors but 23 winners. As well as an entertaining contest, this has been a very noisy affair too. Am not sure who is winning in those stakes.
Second set: Ostapenko 4-6, 0-3 Halep* (* denotes server)
Ostapenko gets very frustrated on the back of three unforced errors. Halep charges into 0-40 lead but the Latvian brings it back to deuce. Then Halep sends a crashing forehand down the line before sealing the game.
Elsewhere ...
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Second set: Ostapenko* 4-6, 0-2 Halep (* denotes server)
Halep’s defence has been quite something here. Her racket is like the walls of a squash court, constantly chucking the ball back at you. Ostapenko finds a couple more angles, with which come winners but Halep’s attempts to keep her opponent refrained behind the baseline eventually pay off.
Second set: Ostapenko 4-6, 0-1 Halep* (* denotes server)
Ostapenko may be great fun – she continues to attack every ball – but that approach allows Halep back in at deuce after two unforced errors in quick succession. Five points in a row, and a little help along the way, and the Romanian takes the first game.
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Simona Halep wins first set!
First set: Ostapenko* 4-6 Halep (* denotes server)
36 pulsating minutes of tennis.
First set: Ostapenko 4-5 Halep* (* denotes server)
Ostapenko storms in front to 30-0 but soon after she is angry, appearing to tell herself, with both hands, to slow down her frenetic approach. Halep battles her way to advantage before winning a lengthy rally. Darren Cahill, Halep’s coach up in the player’s box, is up off his seat to celebrate that one.
First set: Ostapenko* 4-4 Halep (* denotes server)
Ostapenko races into a 30-0 lead, spraying two winners across court. But then comes a couple of errors (17 unenforced now), with a wide forehand allowing Halep back in. But then just comes a staggering rally, with which a relentless Ostapenko gets back on song to take the game. This has been a very quick first set, all 27 minutes of it.
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First set: Ostapenko 3-4 Halep* (* denotes server)
Unforced errors a real concern for the 20-year-old here. 11 so far, with Halep making just the one. When she gets it right, Ostapenko has been deadly though, as in this game with a low, crashing backhand that helped pull her level at deuce. Then comes another, to take Ostapenko to advantage before going for glory too soon. Eventually, though, Halep prospers. “Style-wise, this is like a rerun of yesterday’s epic,” emails Adam Hirst.
First set: Ostapenko* 3-3 Halep (* denotes server)
The most difficult thing for Ostapenko at the moment is getting that first serve in. Some of her efforts have been very wayward, so much so that Halep sails into a 0-40 lead before wrapping up the game as the Latvian finds the net with a forehand.
First set: Ostapenko 3-2 Halep* (* denotes server)
After hitting 245 winners en route to the final, she has found another seven so far today. The difficulty for Halep is the pace and power that Ostapenko has brought to this encounter.
First set: Ostapenko* 2-2 Halep (* denotes server)
Ostapenko wins a ludicrous, powerful forehand to nudge herself in front to 30-15. Halep is making her opponent work for every point but she is hitting winners when they are least expected. A terrific start from both players, in hot conditions.
First set: Ostapenko 1-2 Halep* (* denotes server)
Ostapenko has made a couple of sloppy errors, twice wildly overhitting off the forehand and Halep is in the driving seat – for now at least.
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First set: Ostapenko* 1-1 Halep (* denotes server)
Anything you can do, I can do ... better. Halep twice prospers off of the Latvian’s second serve and although Ostapenko pulls back to 30-40, it is Halep who gets back on level terms.
First set: Ostapenko 1-0 Halep* (* denotes server)
A blistering start by Ostapenko, who is just not messing around here. She hits winner after winner to take her first game at 40-0, in her first Grand Slam final. The shackles are off.
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Here we go ...
Both players are warming up on court now. We must be just a few minutes away from the off. Halep seems to have brought a chunk of Romania with her today, there are plenty of fans decked out in blue, yellow and red.
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Jelena Ostapenko is waiting to be called onto Chatrier. She looks a little nervous to me, but that’s only to be expected. Simona Halep looks cucumber cool: waving and smiling to fans in the stands.
Can the 20-year-old do it? What an exciting story that would be. “Ostapenko’s got what it takes, let’s hope she does it,” beams Andrew Benton via Twitter.
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Simona Halep, a runner-up here to Maria Sharapova in 2014, is looking to win the main prize today in her second final at Roland Garros. The 25-year-old can become the No1 today but says she does “not want to think too much about that”. Not yet, anyway. Ostapenko, in her first Grand Slam final, says she is feeling pretty dandy too. “If I play my game I think anything can happen,” the Latvian says, smiling.
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The sun is beating down on the Phillipe-Chatrier court at Roland Garros this afternoon. The players have already had a hit on the clay this morning. Now they are warming up, out of view, but shortly they are going to compete for a Grand Slam title.
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Preamble
Either Jelena Ostapenko or Simona Halep will take home a first Grand Slam title from this afternoon’s final at Roland Garros. Victory for the No3 seed, Halep, would see the Romanian topple Angelique Kerber as the world number one. Ostapenko, who turned 20 on Thursday, is yet to win any title, in any shape or form. She has had a remarkable tournament, though, and a place in the top 20 is assured, but the Latvian could still write further history. Her extraordinary route to the final has won her praise from all quarters, including a phone call from her country’s president, Raimonds Vejonis.
“He actually called my mum,” she said. As for Halep, she has her eyes on taking victory and that No1 ranking. “I say always that I play well with the pressure, but now I don’t need it,” Halep said. “I just take it like a big day, a big match. And definitely I’m ready for it, because I won many matches until now.”
Women’s singles final: 2pm BST
Ben will be here soon enough. Until then, read Simon Cambers’s piece from Roland Garros on the challenge standing in the way of Simona Halep and the No1 spot:
In her spare time Jelena Ostapenko likes to go ballroom dancing and read detective novels. But even her favourite author, Agatha Christie, might have considered the plot lines that have run through this year’s French Open as too outlandish for publication.
A year ago, on her first appearance in the main draw here, Ostapenko was beaten in the first round. Coming into this event she had never been beyond the third round at any of the grand slams. On Saturday the 20-year-old plays Romania’s Simona Halep for the French Open title and if she wins she will be the first player to win their first Tour title at a grand slam since Gustavo Kuerten did so on 8 June 1997, which just happens to be the day Ostapenko was born.
