PARIS — Skipping the standard intermediary steps, Jelena Ostapenko powered her way straight to a tennis peak Saturday, winning her first WTA Tour title at the French Open.
Her stunning run in Paris — capped by a riveting 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 comeback win over No. 3 seed Simona Halep in the final — made her the first Latvian to win a Grand Slam singles title.
It also made her the first unseeded woman to triumph at Roland Garros since Margaret Scriven of Britain in 1933, when the tournament was known as the French Championships.
Halep, a 25-year-old Romanian, would have secured the No. 1 ranking by winning, but she faltered, just as she did in 2014, when she lost her first French Open final in three sets to Maria Sharapova.
Like Sharapova, Ostapenko is a powerful and fearless hitter from the baseline, capable of producing winners and unforced errors in flurries.
There were plenty of each against Halep: 54 winners and 54 unforced errors. Ostapenko set the tone from the first rally, when she won the opening point with a big backhand down the line that Halep could not handle. She then broke Halep at love with another backhand down the line.
In her first Grand Slam final, Ostapenko did not look the least bit cowed. Her run here was one of the most surprising in tennis’s long history.
“I think I cannot believe I am Roland Garros champion, and I am only 20 years old,’’ Ostapenko said in an on-court interview after her upset win.
She turned 20 during the tournament and was still a teenager when she lost the first set of her first-round match against Louisa Chirico of the United States. But Ostapenko rallied, just as she would against two much more experienced players — 2011 US Open champion Sam Stosur in the fourth round and former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the quarters.
Add Halep to the list. She led, 3-1, in the third set Saturday but could not hold off Ostapenko.
“All the credit for what you have done this tournament,’’ Halep said to her opponent in the post-match ceremony. “It’s an amazing thing. Enjoy it. Be happy, and keep it going because you are like a kid.’’
Ostapenko’s playing style and ability to generate big power from all sectors of the court have elicited comparisons to Monica Seles, but unlike Ostapenko, Seles hit with two hands on both her forehand and her backhand. She also was a much more composed competitor and consistent ball striker.
Ostapenko has tended to be unpredictable. Last year, she threw a racket during a tournament in Auckland that bounced off the court and struck a ball boy. But she held herself in check at Roland Garros and now will climb from No. 47 in the world to No. 12.
The last woman to gain her first tour title at a Grand Slam tournament was Barbara Jordan of the United States at the 1979 Australian Open. The last man to manage it was Gustavo Kuerten, who won the 1997 French Open on the day that Ostapenko was born in the Latvian capital of Riga.
“I knew the history,’’ Ostapenko said. “It was my dream. I’m just really, really happy.’’
Kuerten made an appearance at Roland Garros this past week and said he had arrived in Paris in 1997 with the goal of winning just one match. Ostapenko certainly was not planning to go all the way, either.
“Of course,’’ she said, “I didn’t expect that when I came here.’’
