PARIS (AP) — Simona Halep looked to be on the verge of claiming her first Grand Slam title as well as the No. 1 spot in the rankings.
Then it all fell apart.
Facing the unseeded Latvian Jelena Ostapenko in the French Open final, Halep took the first set and led 3-0 in the second. She then had three break points to move to 4-0.
She eventually lost the match 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in her second final at Roland Garros.
"It's a tough moment for me, but I hope it will go away with time," said the third-seeded Halep, who is from Romania.
Their final on court Philippe Chatrier lasted 2 hours and it was a roller coaster of a match. As usual, Ostapenko took all the risks, and had the same number of winners and unforced errors at 54.
Halep hung in there for a while, but once Ostapenko started to play close to the lines and to limit her mistakes — she had only 13 in the decider — she was tough to overcome.
"I was losing 6-4, 3-0, and then in my mind I was just, I'm just going to enjoy the match, and I will try to fight until the last point," said Ostapenko, the first unseeded woman to win the title at the French Open since 1933. And then I stayed aggressive and the match turned my way."