Henin Tops Clijsters for French Title; Bryan Twins Collect First Slam

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
American twins Bob and Mike Bryan threw the monkey off their backs Saturday with their first grand slam title at Roland Garros with a 7-6(3), 6-3 win over defending champions Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Paul Haarhuis. The win also broke the record of 10 titles held by a brothers team, by Tom and Tim Gullickson. "That's unbelievable, that we're considered one of the best brothers of all time," said Mike, who with Bob scrawled "Tim" on his tennis shoe before the match. "We're going to dedicate this match to them because they've been big inspirations. We know Tom and we knew Tim and they helped us out when we were little." Prior to 2003 the brothers had struggled on clay, and this year watched videos and worked with coaches to learn the intricacies of claycourt play. "It took us two to three years to start learning," Mike said. "We went through the claycourt patterns and everything." During the final the 6-foot-4-inch brothers decided to go primarily at the semi-retired Haarhuis, hoping his brooding Russian partner would get down on him once he started missing. "Yevgeny is a great player but he's not the most positive towards his partner, that's the bottom line," Bob said. "We thought if we went to Paul and he started missing a few, that Yevgeny would shake his head, roll his eyes and the team would just go down." It was the brothers second title of the year (both on clay) after Barcelona. Mike also won the mixed title on Friday with countrywoman Lisa Raymond. The brothers are now an overwhelming favorite to represent the U.S. for the first time in Davis Cup play in December.
In today's singles final, (3)Juan Carlos Ferrero tries to shake the Roland Garros choker stigma with a win over unseeded Martin Verkerk. The pressure's on JCF against the loose, big-hitting Dutchman, but look for the Spaniard to win in four.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
The French Open final had all the markings of a great match, but turned out to be a snoozer for fans and a breeze for Justine Henin-Hardenne, who rolled over countrywoman Kim Clijsters 6-0, 6-4 in the first all-Belgian slam final. "It's very hard to find the right words because it's very special emotion," Henin-Hardenne said. "I can't really tell you how I'm feeling because it's more than you would think." Clijsters spent her last day as a teenager, the day before her birthday, choking away her first potential slam title, twice losing games where she led 40-love. Where do I get my refund? HH improves to 4-1 against her countrywoman on clay.
In today's doubles final, Clijsters will get another shot at a Roland Garros title as she joins Ai Sugiyama in the doubles final against top-seeded Ruano Pascual/Suarez.

JUNIOR SINGLES FINALS
Boys' Singles
(6)Brian Baker (USA) vs. (5)Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)
Girls' Singles
(1)Vera Douchevina (RUS) vs. (2)Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER)

TOUR NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
Martin Verkerk's mother is named Bep and his father Wim...Verkerk saved three match points in his first round match...The Bryans' doubles victory comes 10 years after American brothers Luke and Murphy Jensen won the Roland Garros title. They are just the third team of brothers to win a Grand Slam doubles title in the Open Era (Sandy and Gene Mayer also won Roland Garros in 1979)...The doubles decision -- against conventional wisdom -- for left-handed Bob Bryan to play in the deuce court and right-handed Mike Bryan to play in the backhand court in the Roland Garros final proved to be a winner...In 2002, at 15 years 11 months, Frenchman Richard Gasquet became the youngest winner of the boys singles...Jeremy Bates is the only Brit to win the Queen's Club title...John McEnroe elected to not play the Stella Artois Championship for six years after being banned by the Queen's Club for insulting the then-chairman's wife on a practice court less than a week after his 1984 win. He finally returned in 1991, reaching the quarterfinals, after apologizing and expressing his desire to play again...Is Martin Verkerk berserk or what?...Reports have it that Jason Stoltenberg has quit as coach of Lleyton Hewitt. Good for Stolts, one of the nicest guys on the tour...Speaking of those cute yet wacky French usher girls, gotta love how they clap and cheer good points on centre court...Today is Kim Clijsters' 20th birthday. To celebrate, she'll play in the ladies doubles final...The big Dutchman is listed at 6'3", but he's really 6'6"...Wow Kim, time to sit back and reflect if being a perpetual big-match choker and never rising higher than No. 2 in your career will be enough...The Slams laughed and refused the ATP's request for $50 million to help support their tour and pro tennis. Now things get really interesting. Can you say Boycott?...Juan Carlos Ferrero will be the new leader in the ATP Champions Race come Monday....STAT DU JOUR: Martin Verkerk had never ever won a Grand Slam match until this week...WEATHER: Rain early, but clearing expected with spots of Orange all around...TV TIME: NBC is live with a 9am (EST) with a men's final.