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On the morning of the women's French Open semi-finals, seven-time champion Chris Evert said the moment had arrived for a player to step up and seize an opportunity that may not come around again for a while.
Evert questioned which of the last four survivors — Simona Halep, Karolina Pliskova, Timea Bacsinszky or Jelena Ostapenko — would rise to the challenge of winning their first major with so many big names either absent or on the comeback trail.
Serena Williams is pregnant, two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is just back after being stabbed, Maria Sharapova has only recently returned from a doping ban and former world number one Victoria Azarenka gave birth to her first child late last year.
A few hours later Evert had her answer as Ostapenko, the youngest, lowest-ranked and least experienced of the quartet, produced a fearless performance to beat Bacsinszky 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-3, belting 50 winners in the process.
Ostapenko, who was celebrating her 20th birthday on the same day she beat Bacsinszky, will face the third-seeded Halep in the final after the Romanian outfoxed Pliskova 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to reach her second singles final at Roland Garros.
Should Ostapenko, who had never won a match at the French Open before last week, beat Halep she would become only the second unseeded player to win the women's title after Great Britain's Margaret Scriven achieved the feat in 1933.
Amazingly it would be her first professional title of any kind, emulating the feat of Brazilian great Gustavo Kuerten, who also announced himself to the world by coming from nowhere to win the men's crown at Roland Garros in 1997.
"I didn't think I would be in the final but every match I've played better," Ostapenko said.
"In the third set I just wanted to stay playing aggressive. It's a great way to celebrate my birthday."
Ostapenko trained as a ballroom dancer for seven years but seems more suited to thrashing the fluff off of tennis balls.
She was irresistible at times against the Swiss Bacsinszky in a frenetic match of 16 breaks of serve and in which she made 45 unforced errors.
Ostapenko, who is the first unseeded player to reach the women's singles final since Mima Jausovec lost to Chris Evert in 1983, will not be changing her style against the 2014 runner-up Halep.
"When I came here, of course I didn't expect I would be in the final," Ostapenko said.
"But then, like, first match was a tough match and I won it and it kind of gave me confidence.
"Then every match I was playing better and better and I got my confidence, and I think it works pretty well."
Halep will become world number one if she defeats her polar opposite Ostapenko, as well as the first Romanian woman to lift the Suzanne Lenglen Cup since Virginia Ruzici in 1978.
She benefited from Pliskova's clumsiness in the first set before the Czexch rediscovered her touch.
Overwhelmed by the second seed's power in the second set, Halep regained the momentum in the decider, frustrating her opponent with her ability to soak up punishment.
"I hope I can play better than the previous time and that the score will be different," said Halep, who lost in three sets to Maria Sharapova in her first appearance in the final at Roland Garros.
Reuters
First posted