Coria, Gaudio Meet in All-Argentine French Final

Posted on June 5, 2004

For more than an hour on Friday, Britain's Tim Henman had mouths hanging open all around the globe, up a set and a break on the new "King of Clay," Argentina's Guillermo Coria.

A freak of nature as a serve-and-volleyer among the three Argentine dirt grinders in the semifinals, for a while it looked like Henman's combination of aggressive baseline play and forays to the net would keep Coria off balance for the duration of three quick sets. But leading 6-3, 4-2, the Brit's wheels started coming off.

Suddenly the approach shots weren't so deep, the baseline game not so commanding, and the Argentine's passing shots were finding their mark, again and again and again. So many times that before Henman could say "Another blown slam semifinal opportunity," Coria had reeled off 13 consecutive games, and a commanding lead had morphed into a 1-2 set deficit.

Henman got his game together and fought gamely in the fourth, but it was not to be as Coria wrapped up the match 3-6, 6-4, 6-0, 7-5, dropping the Brit's career slam mark to 0-5 in semifinal appearances.

"I started off the match well, but a difficult period in the middle, and still had chances in the end," Henman said. "That's the way it goes. That's sport."

The win set up the all-Argentine final as earlier unseeded Gaston Gaudio ousted No. 8-seeded countryman David Nalbandian 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-0.

"The tiebreak in the second set was a turning point because I had come back from 1-5 to get there," said the 25-year-old Gaudio, who burst into tears after the match. "It's a very emotional win for me. It's the biggest day of my tennis life."

Recognized as a giant claycourt talent but with a penchant for mentally breaking down on the big occasions, Gaudio credited his work with a therapist for his success.

"I'm in the final of the French Open, you know. He really helped me a lot," Gaudio said. "There were so many things he had to work on."

Gaudio's fragility showed on court when he burst into tears.

"I was thinking about all the effort that I've made when I was a kid and all the dreams I have had in all this time playing tennis," he said.

Nalbandian said he was hampered by an injury suffered in his win over Gustavo Kuerten, which must explain his 0-6 tank in the third set.

"I think he play very good," Nalbandian said. "But also I still have my chances in the second set. Was a very difficult because I couldn't serve very good. Was a little problem with my intercostal rib. But that's fine."

The last Argentine to reach the men's final was 1982 runner-up Guillermo Vilas. Gaudio or Coria will become the first Argentine to win a slam since Vilas at the 1979 Australian Open.

Coria, named after his hero Vilas, will get the nod as the favorite in the Sunday final.

The top two seeds advanced to the women's doubles final in (1)Virginia Ruano Pascual/Paola Suarez (d. Testud/Vinci 6-0, 6-1), and (2)Svetlana Kuznetsova/Elena Likhovtseva (d. Americans (5)Navratilova/Raymond 6-2, 6-4).

In the French Open mixed final, French teenagers Tatiana Golovin and Richard Gasquet beat No. 4 seeds Wayne and Cara Black of Zimbabwe 6-3, 6-4. "It's a great time for both of us. It gave us a chance to play an important match on centre court in front of a big crowd. It can only be good for the future," said the 17-year-old Gasquet.

On court today at Roland Garros is the historic all-Russian women's singles final in (6)Myskina vs. (9)Dementieva (career series tied 4-4), and the men's doubles final in Frenchmen (6)Llodra/Santoro vs. Belgians Malisse/O.Rochus.

Myskina or Dementieva will become the first Russian in Open Era history to win a slam title.

The two 22-year-olds have played each other eight times on tour with their head-to-head locked at 4-4. The final will be an exhibition of solid court movement and weak serving.

The men's doubles final will also be historic, with No. 6-seeded French pair Santoro/Llodra attempting to become to the first team to win the first two slams in one year in the Open Era, and the unseeded team of Xavier "X-Man" Malisse and Olivier Rochus trying to win in their first slam final and only their third tournament pairing.

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
Tim Henman is now 0-5 in slam SFs...All four finalists are in their first slam championship match...Guillermo Coria is fast, but you can bring him to the net and pass him, as Tim Henman demonstrated. Too bad Gaston Gaudio doesn't have that technology...It's the first all-Russian finale and first all-Argentine finale at Roland Garros...U.S. Prez George W. Bush is scheduled to be in the Roland Garros area on Sunday for the Normandy D-Day anniversary...A pint of beer on the streets of Paris can run you between $8-$12 (USD) on average...What happened to David Nalbandian? He was up 5-1 in the second and next thing you know he drops 12 of the next 13 games. Same for Tim Henman, who was leading a set and 4-2 before dropping 13 straight games...Guillermo Coria has just one career five-set match win, that coming last year at the French Open R16 over Mariano Zabaleta...Gustavo Kuerten says he is not going to let his hip problem stop him from playing: "If I didn't have the problems I have had for the past three years then I could play to the same level as the young guys. I am struggling in one part of my body. It is not a problem of age. It is a question of using one part of my body too much and it gets worse because of the way I play. But I will be able to compete with players like Carlos Moya or Gaston Gaudio, players of a similar age to me. They are playing some of the best tennis of their lives. The pain will only stop if I stop playing, but I don't want to do that. I have to see how my body is going to respond. I need to try and get more muscle around the area to protect the hip a little more, to get a little more support. I suffer much more when I practice because, when I play, at least there is a challenge. I have goals. I am sure I can change things around and then play some unbelievable tennis. I need to find a way to get in better shape so that I don't face too much pain. The problem is in the bone. I need to see if there are other parts which can support the articulation."...That was a sad tank by David Nalbandian in the third set after he let Gaston Gaudio come back from 1-5 down, then the call went against him in the breaker, just to reiterate...Eighteen-year-old Frank Dancevic of Niagara Falls, CANADA, has advanced to the semifinals of Surbiton Challenger in England, upsetting No. 4 seed Greg Rusedski 6-4, 7-6(6), that's karma coming at ya...Martina Hingis -- comeback? "I wish sometimes I could still play. That's human, I think. But I know I wouldn't last. Not right now. If you're out for a while, it's hard to come back." Well, maybe not.