Tennis/French Open: Even more unlikely than Tim Henman's journey in the men's singles, two Russian friends, Elena Dementieva and Anastasia Myskina, will meet in the women's final at Roland Garros on Saturday. It is the first time in the Open era that two Russians have faced each other in a Grand Slam final. Johnny Watterson reports from Roland Garros.
A flat Jennifer Capriati fell victim to Myskina, who is now ranked a career high of fourth in the world, with Dementieva moving up to become the world's sixth-best player.
As a result Serena Williams falls out of the top 10 for the first time in her career since August 1999. With Nadia Petrova just hovering outside the top 10, the world will have to adjust to Russian names not just in the main draws but also peppering the back end of Grand Slams.
Of the two poor quality matches, Myskina's 6-2, 6-2 win over Capriati was more impressive and perhaps more puzzling than her friend's erratic and uneven beating of Argentina's Paola Suarez.
"I didn't make it difficult for her at all," complained Capriati after the match. That's how it looked, the American's second serve, particularly, taking a pasting.
Each time Capriati was asked to put in a second delivery, Myskina stepped forward and almost atomised the ball. She did it on match point. A dolly of a serve and, bang, she was through to the final.
Overall Capriati's game was leaden and far from the level that took her to victory against Serena Williams in the quarter-finals. Having disposed of the considerable Williams threat, her arrival at the next match with the tennis equivalent of stage fright was unfathomable. Three times in the first set Capriati lost her serve, Myskina putting it under so much pressure that she had three set points at 5-2 up.
Occasionally, Capriati can pick up the tempo of matches in the second set but as Myskina mixed her ferocious ground strokes with shots of no pace, the American became ragged and error-prone. Capriati hit no aces and won no points directly from her serve. In other words, Myskina returned every one of Capriati's first deliveries. The 2001 champion's second serve was infinitely worse, Capriati winning a shocking 30 per cent of those.
"Obviously it just wasn't my day," she said. "I mean she played good solid tennis. She's got a consistent game and she's a smart player too. I just had no rhythm, no timing on my shots. I mean they were flying.
"That's the way sport is," she said seeking some sense to explain the blank she'd just fired.
"Just sometimes you have no control. In your mind you're going crazy trying to figure out ways to change or work out what's going on."
Just what Myskina will make of Dementieva's struggle with Suarez, particularly in the second set, would make interesting analysis. If Capriati dried up, Suarez froze. Conceding the first set 6-0, the 27-year-old finally won her first game of the match at the beginning of the second set. It took 39 minutes. Until that point Dementieva stood on the middle of the baseline crashing balls either side for Suarez to retrieve.
The older player was very much reacting to whatever Dementieva threw, so there she stood whipping forehands and two-fisted backhands out from both wings. The Suarez serve was ammunition for the Russian, who lacerated her throughout the first six games. She won only 23 per cent of her second serves.
The second set was just bizarre and from Dementieva being the dominant force, doubt suddenly crept in. Nine times service games were exchanged until Suarez was asked to serve to stay in the match in the 12th game. Too much. Two double faults, her eighth, on match point finally brought her tournament to an end.
"It just amazing," said Dementieva. "We've (Myskina and Dementieva) played each other so many times. It's amazing we're going to play the final here because we're from the same club and we started to play tennis at the same time. I don't know how many times we've played, more than 30."
Unattractive, nervous and riddled with bloopers, Suarez will take home her count of 39 unforced errors, Dementieva nine less into the final against Myskina. Given that they know each other's game so well, tactics will play a part. It will be a question of who can turn up something new. "Maybe we'll play the final in Moscow," said Dementieva in perfect French. Already she's got the edge.
WOMEN'S SINGLES: Semi-finals: 9-E Dementieva (Russia) beat 14-P Suarez (Argentina) 6-0 7-5; 6-A Myskina (Russia) beat 7-J Capriati (US) 6-2 6-2.
