French Open 2017: Jelena Ostapenko shocks Caroline Wozniacki
Unseeded Latvian Jelena Ostapenko became the first teenager to reach the French Open women’s semi-finals since 2007 with a shock win against former world number one Caroline Wozniacki.
The 19-year-old lost the first five games of her first major quarter-final before winning 4-6 6-2 6-2.
She will play Swiss 30th seed Timea Bacsinszky, who beat France’s Kristina Mladenovic 6-4 6-4.
“I’m really happy, I can’t believe it,” world number 47 Ostapenko said.
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Ostapenko will meet 27-year-old Bacsinszky in their semi-final on Thursday – when both players celebrate their birthdays.
The pair eventually won their quarter-final matches after torrential rain disrupted the first two women’s last-eight ties in Paris.
Two rain delays – totalling almost four hours – meant Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic’s French Open quarter-finals were postponed until Wednesday.
Ostapenko is the first teenager to reach the Roland Garros semi-finals since Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic and the first to book a place in a Grand Slam semi-final since American Madison Keys at the 2015 US Open.
“It was tough because we had to go away two times from the court,” Ostapenko said.
“Caroline is a tough opponent, I knew I had to stay aggressive, I lost it sometimes but I found my game.”
Wozniacki’s wait goes on in wide-open draw
With pregnant Serena Williams missing and a number of notable early exits, a first-time Grand Slam women’s singles champion will be crowned in Paris.
Wozniacki, 26, boasted the best pedigree of the eight players left in the draw, and was tipped by some observers to win her first major title.
The Dane ended the year as world number one in 2010 and 2011 and has reached two US Open finals without success.
The gulf in experience between Wozniacki, who was competing in her eighth Grand Slam quarter-final, and Ostapenko was huge.
The Latvian looked a little nervous as Wozniacki eased into a 5-0 lead in the first set, but pegged her back to 5-4 before Wozniacki broke her serve for a third time to clinch the opener.
Ostapenko took only two of 11 break points in the first set, but was more clinical when the chances continued to come in the second set.
Both players again struggled to hold their serve, exchanging breaks before Ostapenko rattled off three games in a row to lead 5-2.
Ostapenko served out for the set after the first three-hour rain delay, and then grew in confidence in the decider as Wozniacki wobbled.
Ostapenko broke her serve in the fifth game, going on to win the final five games to become the first Latvian women to reach a Grand Slam semi-final in the Open Era.
Bacsinszky ends French dream
After beating defending champion Garbine Muguruza in the previous round, the home fans had hoped Mladenovic could end France’s 17-year wait for a home winner at Roland Garros.
Both players struggled in the blustery conditions in the first part of the match but the French 24-year-old in particular lacked the intensity and power of her Muguruza win.
Mladenovic fought off a break point immediately after the first rain delay at the start of the second set, and broke serve in the following game, but Bacsinszky came back to win in one hour 49 minutes on court.
The win puts the 27-year-old Swiss into the French Open semi-finals for the second time, having been beaten in the last four by Serena Williams in 2015.
Bacsinszky almost quit tennis under the pressure of what she called a “control freak” father in 2013 but is now a win away from her first Grand Slam final.
Analysis
Russell Fuller, BBC tennis correspondent at Roland Garros:
“The rain delays – one of which lasted over three hours – did Mladenovic no favours. She loves to work the crowd and after a sequence of emotional and narrow victories in earlier rounds, it all fell a bit flat on the Philippe Chatrier Court.
“Much of that was down to Bacsinszky, who was the superior player, and now a semi-finalist for the second time in three years.
“Ostapenko was magnificent in the other completed quarter-final. She makes a lot of unforced errors, but hit 38 winners to Wozniacki’s six as she coped so well with her first taste of a Grand Slam quarter-final.”