Ostapenko Heads To The Finals!
As one of the most competitive eras in recent tennis history, the WTA division looks about as exciting as it has ever been. This was proen further recently, as Jelena Ostapenko celebrated her birthday with a fantastic win against Timea Bacsinszky. Going ahead in Paris, the duo played an exciting last four match culminating in a win for Ostapenko, going to her first ever Grand Slam Final in the process. Aged just 20, this incredible achievement for the youngster, defeating fellow birthday girl Bacsinszky, 28, sets her up for a showpiece appearance in one of the most important finals in tennis.
Having never won a Roland Garros match, losing her two previous chances, Ostapenko has gone on an incredible run to each this point. Now, she’s going to either take on Karolina Pliskova or Simona Halep: either way, the French Open title is about to see some fantastic performers take the stage for the final match of the season.
The opening set of the match was edgy, very tight, with neither being able to find dominance or overall flow during the match. Eventually, though, Ostapenko saw her set broken and began to suffer against a litany of drop-shots. Fighting back, she resisted the dominance of her opponent and started to play some very close-call tennis that eventually put her in the ascendency on the court.
This sent it into a tiebreak, where Bacsinszky found that her second serve let her down and allowed the younger player to pull ahead and take the first set in a dramatic and engaging experience. Level in the second set, too, it took Bacsinszky until the 7th before she broke through and took the set. Ostapenko threw it away towards the end after failing on a break point, beginning to fall away and lose her cool a little.
However, she rallied in impressive fashion and eventually came back, heading into a decider to see who would come out on top.
Flying into a 3-1 lead in the third set, she managed to run a six-minute game before finding a second wind, taking control of the match at a vital period and dumping Bacsinszky out of the tournament with a rapid forehand smash that sent her opponent careering out of the cup.
The first Latvian to reach a Grand Slam Final, Ostapenko perhaps just set the tone for a legendary career to come.
