Ostapenko celebrates birthday with French Open final berth

Jelena Ostapenko celebrated her 20th birthday in style on Thursday while blowing out the candles for her opponent.

Ostapenko outlasted 30th-seeded Swiss Timea Bacsinszky 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-3 to become the first unseeded player to reach the French Open final in 34 years. Mima Jausovec, who hailed from the former Yugoslavia, advanced to the championship match before falling to Chris Evert in 1983.

Thursday’s triumph also enabled Ostapenko to become the first Latvian to advance to a Grand Slam final.

Ostapenko will face No. 3 seed Simona Halep of Romania, who recorded a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory over second-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic.

“I’m really happy to be in the final, especially on my birthday. I think it’s a nice gift!” said Ostapenko, who is ranked 47th in the world.

Ostapenko recorded 50 winners and overcame 45 unforced errors to dispatch Bacsinszky, who turned 28 on Thursday.

Ostapenko has been creating history throughout the week, as she became the first Latvian to reach a Grand Slam semifinal on Tuesday when she bounced 11th-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Ostapenko had lost both career matches at Roland Garros before her scintillating run this year.

Ostapenko took advantage of Bacsinszky’s vulnerable second serve to pull ahead in the tiebreaker and ultimately claim the first set. Bacsinszky, who recorded five aces in the loss, broke through in the seventh game en route to claiming the second set.

“I was just trying to stay aggressive and to go for a shot when I could,” Ostapenko said. “I think it was kind of important that I won the first set, even the second I lost, but in the third set I found my game again.”

Bacsinszky lamented letting Ostapenko gain steam in the opening set en route to losing in the tournament’s semifinals for the second time in three years.

“If I could be only disappointed on one aspect of the match it’s some opportunities I had in the first set,” Bacsinszky said. “I created myself some opportunities, but on the other side of the net she was playing quite well, and she was defending very well everything I was proposing.”

Like Ostapenko, Halep is one win away from her first Grand Slam title. The 25-year-old will attempt to avenge her 2014 French Open final loss to Russian Maria Sharapova in this year’s championship match.

“It is nice to be in the final again,” Halep said. “I hope I can play better and win it. I’m playing a young player — it is a big challenge.”

There will be even more at stake for Halep, who will claim the No. 1 ranking with a win in the championship match. Current No. 1 Angelique Kerber was ousted in the first round of this tournament.

After staging an impressive rally against Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinal, Halep jumped out of the blocks in a hurry versus Pliskova. The Romanian broke serve in the third game and benefited from 24 errors by her foe to claim the first set.

All told, Pliskova committed 55 unforced errors before Halep served out to win the match.