France’s Elsa Jacquemot vowed to savour the moment after staging an impressive fightback to overcome Alina Charaeva of Russia and seal the girls’ title at the Roland Garros Junior Championships.

Home favourite Jacquemot appeared to be teetering on the brink of defeat, trailing by a set and down 4-2 in the second, but a steadfast refusal to lose saw the 17-year-old turn the tide in her favour.

Victory means that Jacquemot is the first French girl to be crowned a Junior Grand Slam champion since Kristina Mladenovic, who triumphed on the clay of Paris more than a decade ago in 2009.

Her title also continues her nation’s trophy-winning success in juniors during 2020 following Harold Mayot’s triumph in an all-French final against Arthur Cazaux at the Australian Open earlier this year.

“It's just amazing. I don't think I have realised what I have achieved yet,” said Jacquemot, who had never previously gone beyond the quarter-finals at a Junior Grand Slam. “I am super happy and want to savour this moment.

“This win is a bonus for the future and hopefully winning here will help me, but the road is long and there is a long way to go in my career. For the moment, I will continue to savour it.

“It was hard. I stayed in my match and only had one desire and that was to win. I could see the victory and wanted to win, now I have this trophy. It was thanks to that little bit of rage that I won.

“I have celebrated with my team but celebrating generally is complicated because the conditions are different than normal, but I will do everything to enjoy it.”

Jacquemot’s day did not start well and it was Charaeva who made the first move, signalling her intentions by breaking her opponent’s serve in the opening game of the clash. Despite Jacquemot battling back, a further mid-set break allowed Charaeva to re-seize the initiative and claim the opening set – the first Jacquemot had dropped during the tournament.

Charaeva grew up watching Victoria Azarenka of Belarus at Roland Garros and after surging into a 4-2 lead in the second set it appeared as though she would be lifting silverware at the Gram Slam where her heroine has enjoyed memorable semi-final runs.

But Jacquemot was not prepared to let the chance to triumph at her home Grand Slam slip by and mounted a determined and stirring comeback, with successive breaks leaving her rival trailing in her wake and the match tied.

Opportunity knocked and Jacquemot duly seized her moment. After powering into the ascendancy and establishing a commanding 4-0 lead, a fourth successive break of served ensured victory was hers.

“At one point in that second set, I was trying to stay mentally in the game, but it was tough,” added Jacquemot, who competed at last year’s ITF Junior Finals in Chengdu, finishing third.

“I knew that I was going to lose if I stayed like this. But I fought to the end, engaged more, put more on the ball and changed the situation.

“There are a lot of emotions and stress when playing a Junior Grand Slam final and it goes very quickly. There were times I needed to breathe and work out how to be more aggressive.

“In the end, all was fine and it’s incredible. Winning here and being the first French girl to do so since 2009, that makes me very happy.”

The remaining girls’ silverware, meanwhile, was claimed by Italian pair Eleonora Alvisi and Lisa Pigato, who overcame fifth seeds Maria Bondarenko and Diana Shnaider of Russia 7-6(3) 6-4 in the doubles final.