SIMONA Halep Wins Her First French Grand Slam Beating US Number 1 Sloane Stephens

World number one Simona Halep from Romania has won her first Grand Slam title by defeating American 10th seed Sloane Stephens in the French Open final. Halep had lost three previous major finals, went a set and a break down at Roland Garros. The 26-year-old professional tennis star battled back to take a see-saw second set against the US Open champion, reports BBC Sports from Ronald Gaross. She beat  Sloane Stephens 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in a gruelling  summit clash  on Saturday. Halep reached the 2014 French Open final, her first Grand Slam final. But lost to iconic tennis player Maria harapova in three sets. Halep, who is a much sought after by corporate houses, is currently clothing sponsor for Nike. Halep had her apparel supplied by Adidas and before May 2014, by Lacoste and her shoes by Nike. In November 2014 she also signed a deal with Vodafone Romania for three years. Halep endorses Hublot watches since 2016. As of 2017, Halep is a brand ambassador for Mercedes-Benz Romania. After winning her first French open, an overjoyed Halep said she would celebrate with a “big” party in Paris then take a holiday before switching her attention to the grass-court season which culminates at Wimbledon next month. There she will look to improve on a solitary semi-final appearance in 2014, having lost in the quarter-finals in both of the past two years.”The grass is coming, I have few tournaments ahead, but now I’m off,” she said. I felt like I could not breathe anymore”, said Halep. It was the perfect way for the Romanian to banish the demons of her painful final defeat by Jelena Ostapenko 12 months ago, when she blew a lead of a set and 3-0.US Open champion Stephens had looked set to lift a second Grand Slam trophy when leading 6-3, 2-0, but the American 10th seed wilted in hot conditions and Halep pounced. The 26-year-old played a scintillating deciding set in which she made only five unforced errors, breaking her major duck in style. Halep celebrated her victory in a way usually seen at Wimbledon, climbing into her box to greet friends and family.”I tried to not do the same thing as last year. It’s a dream and it’s so special to do it here in Paris,” she said.”When I was down a break in the second set I just tried to relax and enjoy the match.”The fans at Roland Garros preceded the match with a standing ovation for seven-time Grand Slam champion Maria Bueno after the Brazilian’s death on Friday aged 78.Halep had vocal support from the start on Court Philippe Chatrier but Stephens was the better player in the baseline rallies and made an early breakthrough as two big forehands left the top seed scrambling. But Halep wasted the chance with her 10th unforced error and Stephens made her pay, drilling an unreturnable backhand into the corner to wrap up the set after just 41 minutes. A first-ever Grand Slam final defeat in straight sets for Halep looked likely as soon as Stephens claimed the first game of the second set on her fourth break point. The Romanian knows better than anyone how Grand Slam finals can turn though after her 2017 heartbreak against Ostapenko, and she broke back to love to the delight of the crowd.

BBC Sports says .Halep had won 12 of 13 points and snatched the momentum, and she made it four games on the spin as Stephens dumped consecutive forehands into the net. Stephens briefly looked out on her feet, but raised her game by shortening the points to break straight back before levelling the set at 4-4, helped by the first ace of the match. But Halep dug deep, squaring the final by winning the next two games, as Stephens fired a backhand wide on the first set point. The American had fatigued irreparably, and it was her turn to fall 2-0 down at the start of the deciding set.US Open champion Stephens was no match for her. (image courtesy BBC Sports )