The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Myskina stops a sloppy Capriati, Dementieva beats Suarez

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 04, 2004

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Myskina stops a sloppy Capriati, Dementieva beats Suarez

PARIS, JUNE 3. Anastasia Myskina and Elena Dementieva won their French Open semifinals on Thursday, setting up the first all-Russian women's Grand Slam final.

Myskina beat three-time Grand Slam winner Jennifer Capriati 6-2, 6-2, while Dementieva overcame Paola Suarez 6,0, 7-5.

The last Russian to reach a women's Grand Slam final was Dementieva's coach, Olga Morozova — the runner-up at Wimbledon in 1974. Natalia Zvereva, from Belarus, was runner-up at the 1988 French Open.

Capriati was unable to duplicate the shotmaking that helped her beat Serena Williams. Coming up short in a bid for her second Roland Garros title, Capriati was impatient and sloppy against the No. 6-seeded Myskina.

``Just one of those days, you know?'' No. 7 Capriati said. ``I had no rhythm, no timing on my shots. They were flying.''

The elimination of the 2001 champion was the latest in a series of surprises over the past two weeks at Roland Garros.

Upsets sidelined Serena and Venus Williams and defending champion Justine Henin-Hardenne, and No. 2-ranked Kim Clijsters missed the tournament with an injured wrist. It's the first time in four years that all four players were absent from a Grand Slam semifinal.

Whether it was nerves or a hangover from her quarterfinal victory over Serena, Capriati started poorly and never improved. She lost 17 of the first 22 points, fell behind 3-0, won consecutive games but then served badly to lose the final game of the set.

Myskina played a considerable role, too. Wispy but agile and versatile, she moved well and kept Capriati on the defensive with an impressive array of shots. In one game Myskina hit a forehand volley, strong serve and deft drop shot for winners on consecutive points.

Capriati said her rhythm was thrown off by the pace of Myskina's shots — much slower than groundstrokes hit by, say, Serena Williams.

``There's a little bit of tension, and when you're not swinging freely, it's especially hard,'' Capriati said. ``Usually you can use some of the pace, but when you have to create it all yourself, it's harder than most people think.''

Capriati had 36 unforced errors and just 11 winners. She became increasingly frustrated as the match progressed.

Early in the second set she sailed a return long, then pounded the clay twice with her misbehaving racket. In the next-to-last game she appeared to sock a return as hard as she could, and it landed in the net to give Myskina a 5-2 lead.

``She's hitting serves what, like, 50 mph?'' Capriati said. ``Usually I should be able to just take those shots and hit winners, but nothing was going in today.''

On the first match point, Myskina smacked a return winner crosscourt to complete the victory. She calmly walked to the net to shake hands, then patted her racket strings in celebration.

The inexperience of No. 9 Dementieva and the No. 14-seeded Suarez on such a big occasion was reflected in their shaky play. There were 17 double-faults, 12 service breaks, 69 unforced errors and just 25 winners.

Dementieva started well and was steadier at the end, winning the final three games.

``It's incredible,'' she said. ``It was always my dream to play a Roland Garros final. I'm so happy.''

While Suarez lost, Argentina is assured of its first men's finalist at Roland Garros since Guillermo Vilas was the 1982 runner-up. The men's semifinals Friday will include three Argentines, a Grand Slam record for the nation.

No. 8-seeded David Nalbandian will play unseeded Gaston Gaudio, and No. 3 Guillermo Coria will play No. 9 Tim Henman, the first Englishman in 41 years to reach the semifinals at Roland Garros.

A nervous Suarez, playing in her first Grand Slam semifinal at age 27, had 16 errors and just three winners in the opening set against Dementieva.

Trailing 0-5, the Argentine double-faulted for the third time and screamed in frustration. Two points later she double-faulted again to lose the set.

The match then settled into a series of cautious rallies reminiscent of the way women played on clay 20 years ago. Suarez began to hit loopy shots in the middle of the court and wait for errors by Dementieva.

The strategy sometimes worked, and with both players tentative and error-prone, there were six consecutive service breaks.

Dementieva overcame two double-faults to hold for a 4-3 lead. She smacked a backhand winner on game point, then screamed, ``Yes!''

Suarez briefly rallied and served for the set at 5-4 but failed to hold. Serving again at 5-6, she was pushed to match point and then double-faulted for the eighth time.

Tushar-Divij in quarterfinals

Tushar Liberhann made progress in the doubles with compatriot Divij Sharan. They advanced to the quarterfinals upsetting the second seeds, Jun Woong-sun and Kim Sun-yong Jr. of South Korea, 6-3, 7-6 (5). — Agencies

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport