all-argentine / all-russian finals at the french open
tim henman could have been the the first british man to reach the french open final in sixty-seven years but he did not have the game in him today to defeat the best claycourt player in the world, guillermo coria, who will now meet fellow argentine , unseeded gaston gaudio at the tournament's men's final sunday. twenty-five year old gaudio played today like a deity and defeated eighth-seeded compatriot david nalbandian in straight sets. gaudio took command from the start and from 3-3 ran off three games in a row including two service breaks dominating the bigger and more physical nalbandian with his searing groundstrokes off both flanks from the baseline. nalbandian, 2002 wimbledon runner-up, appeared to be getting back into the match when he moved 5-1 up in the second set, but incredibly gaudio clawed his way back to 5-5 and then in the tie-break he took a 6-2 lead and went two sets up with a smash at the net on his fourth set point. gaudio rapidly moved to match point with three successive service breaks. he hit long on the first but on the second nalbandian flapped at a forehand and it died at the net sparking off a tearful celebration from gaudio. it's as if he could not believe it had happened. he appeared so stoic during that third set, and then, upon realising he'd won, his emotions surfaced and he sobbed and laughed until he left the court. he told reporters that this was his favourite tournament and had always dreamed of getting to the final.so instead of the falklands war getting settled at centre court in paris, we shall have a most brilliant tango (it takes two, no?) to enjoy sunday morning. it can't be missed.
as for the females... well, they won't be playing for pizza this time round. as children, anastasia myskina and elena dementieva played for a slice. now, it's the french open title and over a million dollars at stake in the first ever all-russian grand slam final. no russian woman had ever been in the final of any grand slam since olga morozova lost to chris evert in the french open final and wimbledon in 1974.
varied sources through google news.
