Home>News Center>Sports | ||
Myskina, first Russian woman to win French Open
Anastasia Myskina became the first Russian woman to claim a Grand Slam title, taking advantage of shaky play by compatriot Elena Dementieva to win 6-1, 6-2 Saturday at the French Open.
The match was the first all-Russian Grand Slam final and marked the first time in 30 years that Russia had even one woman in the final of a major event.
The No. 9-seeded Dementieva has long been plagued by an unreliable serve, especially in big matches, and that was the case again in her first major final. She lost her first four service games, and missed her final four serves - for two more double-faults — to give Myskina a 5-2 lead in the second set.
Myskina herself double-faulted to lose the first game, then settled down and won the next eight games. She closed the victory when Dementieva sent a return long, and the two foes and longtime friends embraced at the net.
Argentina also has two players in a Grand Slam final for the first time. No. 3-seeded Guillermo Vilas will play unseeded Gaston Gaudio on Sunday, with the winner becoming the first Argentine man to win a major title since Guillermo Vilas at the 1979 Australian Open.
She arrived in Paris with a 1-4 lifetime record at Roland Garros but led a wave of upsets, beating Venus Williams and 2001 champion Jennifer Capriati en route to the title.
For the final, the weather was perfect - sunny and 75 degrees - but the tennis less so, especially from Dementieva.
In her opening service game she double-faulted, hit an ace and double-faulted again on the first three points. She double-faulted for a third time on break point as the crowd groaned.
Myskina appeared relaxed as she settled into the match. But Dementieva struggled with awkward footwork - a sign of nerves - and was often out of position on shots. Twice she hit swinging volleys into the net.
Dementieva held for the first time to trail 2-1, then held again to close to 3-2, but she couldn't keep it up.
Serving at 2-4, she double-faulted on the first point and angrily shouted at herself in Russian. The outburst didn't help, and she finished with 33 unforced errors and just 11 winners.
Dementieva and Myskina were the first Russians to reach a women's Grand Slam final since Dementieva's coach, Olga Morozova, was the runner-up at Wimbledon in 1974.
Myskina became only the third woman - and the first in 42 years - to win the French Open after saving a match point. She was one point from defeat in her fourth-round victory against Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Myskina earned $1.02 million and Dementieva $510,000. |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||