Simona Halep finally won her first career Grand Slam title after beating American Sloane Stephens in the French Open women’s final in Paris.
Romanian Halep, the world No.1 and top seed, staged an epic comeback to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Court Philippe-Chatrier and secure a maiden major in her fourth Slam final.
Current US Open champion Stephens took control of the match by winning the opening set, but the turning point came in the middle of the second as Halep found her game and started to win points at the net.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
Then in the deciding third set Halep played some magnificent tennis to storm into a 5-0 lead. Stephens won the sixth game before Halep held her serve and completed the victory in front of a delighted Parisien crowd.
The result was redemption for Halep who had twice lost the final in Paris - in 2014 and last year when Jelena Ostapenko staged her own comeback. Halep was then also defeated in this year’s Australian Open final by Caroline Wozniacki.
After the victory an emotional Halep climbed into the stands to celebrate with her family and coaching team.
She returned to the court and said: “It was amazing and thank you for your support. In the last game I didn’t feel like I could breathe any more and didn’t want to repeat last year, so I cannot believe it. I was dreaming of this moment since I started playing tennis and I’m happy it happened at Roland Garros.”
Upon receiving the trophy she added: “Last year was very emotional so I was living for this moment since I was 14 so thank you and I wanted this moment to happen here in France. Congrats to Sloane, you have done a great job since the injuries and I’m sure you are going to play lots more finals.
“I see the Romanian flag in the crowd, thanks to my friends and my family and to all the Romanian and French fans, I have felt your support over the last two weeks. I wish in the future to play more finals here, because it’s a really beautiful tournament and it is my favourite one.”
Tennis fans around the world also congratulated Halep on her maiden slam, here’s how Twitter reacted:
“She deserves her victory”.
Halep joins an elite club this year…
Russian tennis player Elena Vesnina praises Halep.
Czech star Petra Kvitova is delighted for Halep.
A dream comes true.
Her moment comes in Paris.
Halep is the Roland-Garros champion.
