Simona Halep led 6-4 3-0. To this point in the match, Halep had been the better player, handling Jelena Ostapenko's superior firepower with her own superior movement, and letting Ostapenko unforced-error herself into trouble. It looked like Halep was going to win.
Ostapenko was serving. Her serve had been shaky all day, but she was first to game-point at 40-30. Halep won the point to force deuce, then won the next to take the advantage. Ostapenko forced Halep into an error to save the break point. An Ostapenko unforced error gave Halep another chance. Ostapenko hit a forehand winner to bring things back to deuce. Ostapenko double-faulted to give Halep a third break point. Halep hit an unforced error to even things again. Three chances was all Halep got. Ostapenko won the next two points and the game.
Surely it would have been over at 4-0. But now it was 3-1. Then Halep got broken for 3-2 and back on serve. Halep jumped to a 15-40 lead in Ostapenko's next service game. Surely Halep will convert one of these, I thought. If she does, I predicted, she will stop the bleeding and win the match. But she didn't convert, and the match tied up at 3-3.
Then Halep got broken again. She broke back, but then was broken yet another time. Ostapenko held serve and the match was tied, one set all.
Perhaps there at 3-0 Halep took a little off, or perhaps Ostapenko finally got over her nerves, or perhaps it was both, but in the second set and on to the third Ostapenko seemed to dial in. In the first set, she hit 14 winners to 23 unforced errors. In the second it was 22 to 18. In the third, 18 to 13. Her service return was particularly lethal. She rifled down-the-line return winners on point after point. It was fun to watch; her play made me laugh. Ostapenko is delightful that way, just blasting away every chance she gets.
Halep had her chance with those five break points over those two games, and it seemed later that the favor of the tennis gods swung the other way after that. At 3-3 in the third, with Halep serving at 30-40, Ostapenko hit a backhand down the line that was going to land a couple of feet out--but instead it clipped the net cord, bounced straight up, and landed just inches inside Halep's side of the court. Ostapenko threw her hands up in apology, but we don't have to apologize when the gods smile down on us. Perhaps Halep knew then that it wasn't to be her day.
The last point of the match came with Halep serving into the ad court. Ostapenko stepped up to the ball, for the however-manyth time that day, and blasted a backhand down the line. Halep never had a chance at it, and 20-year-old Jelena Ostapenko won the French Open.
Let's hope Ostapenko keeps it up. I hope there's no hangover going into Wimbledon. I want to see her do the same thing there.