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All you need to know about French Open champ Jelena Ostapenko

June 10, 2017 22:04 IST

Factbox on Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, who beat Romania's Simona Halep 4-6 6-4 6-3 to win the French Open on Saturday and claim her first grand slam title:

IMAGE: Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko with the Suzanne-Lenglen trophy following her French Open win over Romania's Simona Halep at Roland Garros in Paris on Saturday. Photograph: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Born: Riga, Latvia, on June 8, 1997

Grand slam career-best results: Australian Open: third round (2017); French Open: winner (2017); Wimbledon: second round (2015); US Open: second round (2015)

* The 20-year-old became the first unseeded woman to lift the Suzanne Lenglen Cup since 1933.

* She emulated the darling of Roland Garros, Gustavo Kuerten, by making the French Open her first career title -- the feat the Brazilian achieved in 1997 on the day Ostapenko was born.

* The youngster launched an impressive tally of 299 winners from her fluorescent green racquet.

* Despite winning her first grand slam title on Paris clay, Ostapenko's favourite tournament is Wimbledon.

 MAKING HER NAME

IMAGE: Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko in action during the French Open final on Saturday. Photograph: Adam Pretty/Getty Images

 - Born to former football player Jevgenijs Ostapenko and Jelena Jakovleva.

- She was introduced to tennis at age five and idolised Serena Williams while growing up.

- Ostapenko was initially coached by her mother, with her father serving as a fitness trainer.

- In July 2014, the then 17-year-old Ostapenko sealed a comeback victory to beat Kristina Schmiedlova 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 and win the 2014 Wimbledon juniors title.

- She speaks Russian, Latvian and English.

- Currently coached by two-time French Open doubles champion Anabel Medina Garrigues.

PROFESSIONAL CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

IMAGE: Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko in action during the French Open final. Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters

2012 - Played first WTA qualifying at Moscow; won one singles title and one doubles title on ITF Circuit.

2013 - Won two singles titles and four doubles titles on ITF Circuit.

2014 - She made her WTA tour main draw debut at the Tashkent Open.

2015 - First Top 100 season after reaching the second round at Wimbledon and U.S. Open.

2016 - Represented Latvia at the 2016 Rio Olympics where she lost to Australia's Sam Stosur in the opening round.

2017 - Before entering Roland Garros, she came close to winning three titles this year, losing in the semi-finals at Auckland and Prague and the final at Charleston.

Source: REUTERS
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