French Open 2017: Jelena Ostapenko beats Timea Bacsinszky to reach final
Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko became the first unseeded woman to reach the French Open final in 34 years by beating Timea Bacsinszky.
The 20-year-old defeated the Swiss 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 6-3 on Thursday to stay on course for a first WTA title.
Mimi Jausovec was the last unseeded player to reach the French Open final in 1983, losing to Chris Evert.
Ostapenko will play either Czech world number three Karolina Pliskova or Romania’s Simona Halep on Saturday.
World number 47 Ostapenko, who turned 20 on the day of her victory, edged a first-set tiebreak but looked to have lost her way in the second set when she lost four games in a row.
Bacsinszky was knocked out of the tournament at the semi-final stage at Roland Garros in 2015 and appeared determined to avoid the same fate as she comfortably closed out the second set.
But Ostapenko turned on the style in the decisive set, edging ahead at 4-3 with the 15th break of the match before holding for 5-3.
Ostapenko then hit a winning forehand to secure her place in the final, prompting the crowd to sing “happy birthday” as she celebrated the biggest win of her career so far.