Henin v Pierce Today; Puerta Says He Has Balls

Posted on June 4, 2005

Nadal d Federer, v Puerta in French Open Final

Rafael Nadal is one match away from winning the French Open in his event debut after Friday handling world No. 1 Roger Federer 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the final on his 19th birthday.

The muscular Spaniard set aside for another year Federer's quest to win the only slam that has eluded him thus far in his young career, but the Swiss can take confidence from his best effort to-date at Roland Garros, not dropping a set until the semifinals.

A win in the final would make Nadal the first man to win Roland Garros in his debut since former No. 1 Mats Wilander in 1982.

The two hour, 47-minute match saw the first bout of nerves from Federer, who dropped serve to begin the match, then again while serving at 5-1 in the second set, eventually saving the set 6-4.

"I started very well, it's true, with a very good rhythm," Nadal said. "That's what I wanted. It's been my specialty this year to have an early break in the first set. It's very important to be able to break early. Then with a second break, I could see that the set was looking good for me. Of course, when you win the first set, well, it makes you a little less nervous."

Nadal also broke the Swiss in the sixth game of the third set, and in the fourth set came back from a break down, consistently confounding the Swiss with his kicking lefty spin.

"The points are played a different way. The kick doesn't bounce to his backhand, it bounces to his forehand. So it changes everything," Federer said. "You never got to forget that, so you will never see me play the same way like I will play Marat (Safin), Andy (Roddick) and Lleyton (Hewitt), let's say, compared to this guy. I think that's, again, what didn't do me very good, you know. It was the start -- basically get used to it, again, to his lefty spin. Kind of always takes me a while to figure out."

Federer in a rare show of loser's bravado also said Nadal's level was not that much higher than his own.

"I know I can beat him on any surface," Federer said. I" didn't think he played much better than me. I had the keys to beat him if I played my best."

In the final Nadal will face heavy underdog Mariano Puerta of Argentina, who came from 2-4 down in the fifth set to defeat an out-of-gas Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 5-7, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

"I'm in paradise," Puerta said. "I'm the happiest man on earth right now."

It was only nine months ago that Puerta was ranked in the No. 400s after serving a nine-month doping suspension for what a tribunal determined was an asthma medication. It is the third consecutive Roland Garros final featuring an unseeded contestant after Martin Verkerk in 2003 and Gaston Gaudio in 2004.

"(The match) was similar to (the Guillermo) Canas (quarterfinal) because I was, first of all, losing," Puerta said. "That's a similarity. And then I always hoped that I was going to win the set. Even when I was 4-2 in the last set, I still thought I could win."

The match started in cool, windy weather after a rain delay, and featured drawn-out rallies highlighted by Puerta's big forehand and the Russian Davydenko's scampering defensive play.

"Today he played better," said Davydenko who finally ran out of gas after a stellar claycourt campaign over the last couple months. "From the baseline he was better. Sometimes I make winners, but it was not enough to beat him."

On court Saturday for the men is the doubles final featuring (2) Jonas Bjorkman/Max "The Beast" Mirnyi vs. American twins (3) Bob/Mike Bryan.

French Open Doubles Wrap: Ruano Pascual/Suarez Advance to 2nd Straight Final

Top seeds Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez will get a chance to defend their French Open doubles title after Friday rolling over No. 5 seeds Nadia Petrova and Meghann Shaughnessy 6-2, 6-4, breaking a four-match losing streak against the Russian/American pair to reach the final at Roland Garros.

Standing in their way will be the unseeded team of Cara Black and Liezel Huber, who gained the final by ousting No. 8 seeds Corina Morariu and Patty Schnyder 6-4, 6-2.

Black/Huber are unseeded at the French even though they stand at No. 2 on the WTA Tour Team Rankings behind No. 1s Svetlana Kuznetsova and Alicia Molik, and one position ahead of Ruano Pascual/Suarez.

In eight tournaments played this year prior to Roland Garros, the Zimbabwean/South African pair have won the title at Antwerp (carpet), finished runners-up at Doha (hardcourt) and Berlin (clay), and won their second title of the year at Rome (clay).

Ruano Pascial/Suarez will be shooting for their eighth slam title as a team.

In the mixed doubles final, Frenchman Fabrice Santoro gave the few French onlookers something to cheer for Friday, with partner Daniela Hantuchova defeating Martina Navratilova and Leander Paes 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

"It's my 16th time competing at Roland Garros," said the 32-year-old Santoro. "A title in Paris is great. I can tell you, I held up the trophy...and it's something that's very important for me and in my career."

Scheduled for Saturday on the women's side is the singles final featuring (10) Justine Henin-Hardenne vs. (21) Mary Pierce.

X-CORRECT
Nikolay Davydenko lost in the quarerfinals this year at the Australian Open.
 
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
With new coach Tony Roche, Roger Federer is 0-2 for slam titles after winning three last year...Rafael Nadal will be No. 1 in the confusing ATP Champions Race (but not on the official ATP Rankings) if he wins on Sunday, which means year-end No. 1 is in reach if he can manage some hardcourt and indoor wins before the end of the year while winning what few clay tournaments remain...This is the first all-lefty Roland Garros final in the Open Era...The last all-lefty slam final was Petr Korda-Marcelo Rios in 1998 at the Australian Open...Roland Garros Weather: Good Saturday; rain Sunday...Both Rafael Nadal and Justine Henin-Hardenne are on 23-match winning streaks...After struggling against Rafael Nadal on his favored hardcourt, who in his right mind would have picked Roger Federer to beat Nadal on clay? All punters make a bad pick once in while, eh? No need to make a scene. In that vein, here are some of the prominent tennis journalists/commentators that went on the record with their Federer picks: Chris Clarey (New York Times), Philippe Bouin (L'Equipe), Rino Tommasi (Sky Italia), Jim Courier (commentator), and John Roberts (The Independent). Voices of reason for Rafa came from: Barry Flatman (Sunday Times, UK), Ulbaldo Scanagatta (La Nazione), and about every other journalist, commentator, TV station janitor and fan around the world...Nikolay Davydenko on playing Davis Cup: "I don't like five-set matches. It's only Davis Cup to be also play like here five sets. I will see." Don't like Davis Cup, don't like English...Mariano Puerta on his comeback from being ranked in the No. 400s after his doping suspension: "When I came back, I was prepared for very tough moments, prepared to be able to play anywhere. This is what I wanted. I was ready to sacrifice a lot, to give a lot. If it meant going to play in Iran, well, I would go play there. I didn't just go on the airplane and go in Iran. I went. I kept quiet. I never complained about anything. I was prepared. I went in a very humble way and ready to overcome any obstacle, any barrier. I think the turning point occurred at that time, a few days before I actually came back. It's not that things started changing afterwards, because then I think that I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't prepared beforehand."...Best Q&A from the Mariano Puerta post-match conference: "Q. There was a young person just sitting next to us, the crowd, who had a flag from Argentina and a t-shirt from Argentina. We asked him to speak to the radio. He's from the west. I asked, "Why did Mariano win?" He said, "Because he had more balls." Is that an influence? Puerta: Well, I think he's probably right. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but I feel proud to have won such a match. Obviously it's easier to play when you're 4-2 down when you've never been in a final. It's probably easier for me than a player such as Federer who is used to winning every single Grand Slam that he's in. But I feel very proud. I feel very proud because I overcame a very difficult time, you know, serving for the match with the wind against me. There was a lot of factors that made things a little difficult for me. Yeah, I think I did have balls." Nice...In nine years as a pro, Mariano Puerta has never won a grasscourt match...Mardy Fish could be out of action until the end of the year with his wrist injury? Say it ain't so, at the onset of a promising grasscourt season...Andre Agassi has pulled from Queen's with his sciatic nerve problem...Hungarian junior Agnes Szavay is in the singles and doubles final at Roland Garros just five months after losing both the singles and doubles finals at the Australian Open.