Ferrero, Verkerk Advance to Men's Final, All-Belgian Waffle Final Today at French Open



Posted on June 8, 2003

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
Claycourter Guillermo Coria's French Open dreams were ended Friday by the most unlikely of assailants: a 24-year-old 6'6" balding, unseeded goofy blonde Dutchman who had never won a grand slam match prior to the tournament, and was making his first career appearance on the red dirt at Roland Garros. Martin Verkerk ended The Wizard's run with a convincing 7-6(4), 6-4, 7-6(0) display of power and consistency from the backcourt. "This is a dream," said Verkerk, the first Dutchman to reach the Roland Garros final. "This is actually a little bit of a joke...The main thing is I really worked very hard -- they say if you work hard it comes one day. This is the day." Coria was almost defaulted in the opening set when he threw his racquet at an out-of-reach ball, and nearly clipped a ball girl (though reports vary). "If you throw a racket in a ball kid's face, normally it's over," Verkerk said. "But on this occasion, a semifinal, he's a nice guy, he said sorry -- I don't think he should be disqualified. It's too big an occasion." The Argentine was given a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct and fined $2K. Coria never recovered, and eventually ended his disappointing show with a double fault on match point. In the other semi, Juan Carlos Ferrero put in a similar workman-like display, putting spent countryman Al Costa through his paces with a 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-4 win. With the fresher legs, JC dictated play and prevented a famed Costa comeback, with the defending champion finally feeling the effects of an empty tank. "I had a number of opportunities during the second set, and I think it was 5-4 when I made a few double faults," Costa said. "Then there was the tiebreak and I was in the lead and then he made a few fabulous shots.
Of course you don't know what would have happened if I had won that second set, but Juan Carlos just simply played better than I did." Ferrero and Verkerk have met only once on tour, with JC winning the encounter 7-5, 6-2 last year on clay in Kitzbuhel.
Today's doubles final features (3)Bryan/Bryan (1-2 in finals this year but appearing in their first career slam final) vs. defending champions (11)Haarhuis/Kafelnikov. The brothers beat the Dutch/Russian combo in their only previous meeting in three tough sets at last year's US Open, and will try and shed their reputation as the team that always come up short at the slams. A win would virtually guarantee the brothers represent the U.S. in Davis Cup doubles play for the first time this coming September.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
In doubles semifinal action Friday, top seeds Virginia Ruano Pascual/Paola Suarez repelled No. 9 Daniela Hantuchova/Chanda Rubin 6-2, 7-6(5), while No. 2 Kim Clijsters/Ai Sugiyama (2) eased by No. 4 seeds Cara Black/Elena Likhovtseva 6-1, 6-4, setting up the No. 1 vs. No. 2 final. Clijsters/Sugiyama have won three titles this year, while Black/Likhovtseva are 0-2 in finals. In the mixed doubles final, No. 2 seeded Lisa Raymond/Mike Bryan beat No. 3 Likhovtseva/Mahesh Bhupathi 6-3, 6-4 for the title.
Today's singles final between Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne will produce the first-ever Belgian slam winner. "We have never had two Belgian players in a (slam) final, so it's going to be a very special day for everyone in Belgium on Saturday," H-H said. "It's great." Clijsters leads 7-3 in their career head-to-head match-ups, and is 2-1 against H-H in 2003. Though HH is 3-1 on the clay.

FRENCH OPEN TOP 10 ACTIVE WINNING PERCENTAGE (UPDATED)
Juan Carlos Ferrero strengthened his standing over Gustavo Kuerten with his SF win for the best winning percentage at Roland Garros among active players, while Al Costa fell behind Marat Safin to No. 5 with his loss, and Guillermo Coria fell out of the Top 10 after the loss to Martin Verkerk (minimum 10 matches, through June 7, 2003):

1. Ferrero, Juan Carlos (ESP), 22-3 .880
2. Kuerten, Gustavo (BRA), 32-5 .865
3. Agassi, Andre (USA), 51-14 .785
4. Safin, Marat (RUS), 17-5 .773
5. Costa, Albert (ESP), 28-9 .757
6. Kafelnikov, Yevgeny (RUS), 31-10 .756
7. Robredo, Tommy (ESP), 9-3 .750
8. Corretja, Alex (ESP), 34-12 .739
9. Moya, Carlos (ESP), 19-7 .731
10. Chang, Michael (USA), 38-15 .717

ALL-COUNTRYWOMEN FINALS AT ROLAND GARROS (OPEN ERA)
Australia -- 1971
U.S. -- 1982,'84-86,'02
Belgium -- 2003

ALL-WAFFLE WTA FINALS
1997 -- Cardiff - Dominique Van Roost d. Laurence Courtois
1999 -- Luxembourg - Kim Clijsters d. Dominique Van Roost
2001 -- 's-Hertogenbosch - Justine Henin-Hardenne d. Kim Clijsters
2003 -- German Open - Justine Henin-Hardenne d. Kim Clijsters
2003 -- Roland Garros - Justine Henin-Hardenne vs. Kim Clijsters

2003 TENNIS-X TOP DOUBLES TITLE CHOKE LEADERS
Doubles teams on the ATP and WTA Tours with more losses than wins in tournament finals in 2003. Two choke-leading teams are in Roland Garros doubles finals in Bryan/Bryan and Black/Likhovtseva (minimum two runner-up efforts, through May 26, 2003):

Shinobu Asagoe/Nan Miyagi (JPN/JPN) 0-2
Cara Black/Elena Likhovtseva (ZIM/RUS) 0-2
Nathalie Dechy/Emilie Loit (FRA) 0-2
Bob and Mike Bryan (USA) 1-2
Frantisek Cermak/Leos Friedl (CZE) 1-2
Tomas Cibulec/Pavel Vizner (CZE) 1-2
Michael Llodra/Fabrice Santoro (FRA) 1-2

X-MAIL
From "RJ" in Indiana:
"What's up with Guillermo Coria? That's the worst hair since Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump."

Tennis-X editors: The Argentine hair-apparent looks to be moving in the direction of an Axel Rose circa 1988, but it is a growth work in progress, still in the "bowl" phase.

WOMEN'S FINAL WACKY FACTS
Should Kim Clijsters win the title, she would join the 10 women who have won Roland Garros while still a teen: Connolly, Truman, Court, Goolagong, Evert, Mandlikova, Graf, Sanchez, Seles and Majoli...Clijsters and H-H lost in the third and first rounds respectively at the 2002 French Open...Clijsters or H-H will become the seventh different French Open winner over the last seven years...The women's final will be the first slam final in 17 months to not feature a Williams sister...King Albert and Queen Paola of Belgium will attend the first all-Belgian final Saturday...The Belgian pair first put themselves on the map in 2001 by winning the Fed Cup...Kim Clijsters had a net cord drop shot dribble over for a winner to erase a set point in her semifinal against Russian Nadia Petrova...H-H won the junior title at Roland Garros in 1997 as a wildcard, the first Belgian to win since 1947...Both Clijsters and H-H idolized Steffi Graf growing up...Clijsters has an 18-year-old sister, Elke, who was a top junior and is starting to make her way on the pro tour this year...Clijsters likes to listen to Bon Jovi and H-H to Celine Dion, making you wonder what the hell is going on with the Belgian music scene...Clijsters and H-H both made their pro debuts at Antwerp in 1999 (where H-H won the title); both reached their first slam SF at 2001 Roland Garros; both broke into the Top 10 on June 11, 2001; both broke into the Top 5 the following month...Either Clijsters or H-H will become the ninth active player (after Seles, S. Williams, V. Williams, Davenport, Capriati, Pierce, Majoli & Martinez), the 30th player in the Open Era, and the 18th at Roland Garros since 1968 to win their first slam......Clijsters grew up in Flemish-speaking Flanders, while Henin-Hardenne is from a French-speaking southern area of Belgium.

TOUR NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
ESPN commentator Pam Shriver writes about the women's final on ESPN.com, and recommends "Anybody who loves tennis should watch." Thanks Pam...Juan Carlos Ferrero joined Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander, Ivan Lendl and Jim Courier as the only men to reach the French Open semifinals or better for four consecutive years...Al Costa entered Roland Garros with a 5-4 record on clay in 2003 and never having pushed a match to five sets after falling behind 0-2 in sets...French soccer star Michel Platini said he was inspired by Yannick Noah's Roland Garros win 20 years ago when he became the first Frenchman to win in 37 years. Platini, a three-time world player of the year, was playing at the time for Juventus, an Italian team. "Yannick's win was huge for French sport," Platini told the French sports daily L'Equipe. "The Italians wouldn't stop mocking me because France never won anything in sports. Thanks to Yannick, attitudes started to change." A year later, Platini scored nine goals and captained France to victory at the 1984 European Championships, and was mocked no more...The French Tennis Federation handed out 10,000 single long-stemmed roses to female spectators at the women's semifinals, designated Ladies' Day at the French Open since 1988. The hommes got nothing...Former Roland Garros semifinalist Fernando Meligeni says he is putting his racquets in the bag: "I always said that the day that I woke up and found it difficult to get out of bed to train, I would stop," said the Brazilian. "And recently, I've been having this difficulty."...14-year-old Michaela Krajicek, half-sister of Richard Krajicek, is through to the junior girl's singles semifinals and doubles final in her first junior slam event. She is coached by her father Petr and former ATP pro Michiel Schapers, and has received a wildcard into her first WTA event at s'-Hertogenbosch. "I'm very excited to play on grass," said Michaela at Roland Garros. "I already bought the special shoes to play on it. This will be a first for me. I know Richard will help me through it." A bit of a chunky monkey, Michaela is looking to up her conditioning to reach the next level (someone needs to tell her that is not a necessity on the WTA Tour): "My conditioning is not that good. That's the one think I need to work very hard on."...The No. 1 women's seed has won only once since 1994 at Roland Garros...Next week Martin Verkerk will actually play in a Dutch club match, keeping a long-standing commitment that occurred before his meteoric rise at Roland Garros, and delaying his first-ever ATP grasscourt appearance...Verkerk looks like the result of a science experiment combining the DNA of Richard Krajicek, Gustavo Kuerten, and Marc Rosset...STAT DU JOUR: Brian Baker, who won his semifinals boys singles match over on the bull ring, is trying to become the first American to win the junior boys French Open since John McEnroe in 1977...WEATHER: Another rain-free slam day...TV TIME: ESPN is gone, so look to NBC for tape.