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PARIS — Simona Halep finally got the major breakthrough that she had been waiting for. American Sloane Stephens, however, didn’t make it easy.
The top-seeded Halep beat the 10th-seeded Stephens 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Court Philippe-Chatrier to win the French Open on Saturday.
The 26-year-old Romanian had gone 0-3 in her previous three major finals.
Halep, who will continue to be ranked No. 1 in the world rankings, had lost at Roland Garros in both 2014 and 2017 and in this year’s Australian Open.
She became just the fourth woman since the introduction of the WTA rankings in 1975 to win her first major after being ranked No. 1, joining Kim Clijsters, Amelie Mauresmo and Caroline Wozniacki
Halep also becomes the second Romanian woman to win a Grand Slam singles trophy. Her manager, Virginia Ruzici, won the French Open 40 years ago.
Stephens put up a strong fight, but the defending US Open champion lost her first tournament final after going 6-0 in her previous appearances.
The 25-year-old from Florida was the first American other than Venus Williams or Serena Williams to reach the French Open final since Jennifer Capriati won it in 2001.
In the first set, Halep sent a forehand into the net as Stephens got the first break to go up 3-1. Stephens then held serve the rest of the way to close out the set, despite making more unforced errors (15) than Halep (10).
Prior to Saturday, the winner of the first set had won 43 of the past 46 women’s major finals.
After Saturday, Halep joined Martina Navratilova (1978 Wimbledon) and Jelena Ostapenko (2017 French Open) as the only women in the Open era to win their first major title after coming from a set down to win in the title match.
Stephens fell to 0-7 against No. 1-ranked players during her career.