Unseeded Jelena Ostapenko got the best birthday gift she could imagine, saying goodbye to her teenage years by recording the biggest victory of her career at Roland Garros and becoming the first Latvian to make a Grand Slam final. Between the fresh 20-year-old and Coupe Suzanne Lenglen is the 2014 runner-up Simona Halep, who will fight for both the No.1 WTA ranking and her maiden major title in the championship match.
In the first Thursday’s semifinal, the world No.47 Ostapenko upset fellow birthday girl Timea Bacsinszky, edging out a first-set tiebreak, then dropping four consecutive games to hand the second set to the Swiss before edging ahead with the 15th break of the match and holding for 5-3.