Gaudio Posts Miraculous Win Over Coria to Win French Title

Posted on June 7, 2004

The heavily-favored Guillermo Coria had journalists reaching for their media guides looking for the shortest match at Roland Garros after "El Mago" jumped out to a 6-0, 2-0 lead Sunday over Argentine countryman Gaston Gaudio, but in the end it was the No. 44-ranked Gaudio raising the trophy after an improbable 0-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 8-6 comeback.

Coria served for the match at 6-0, 6-3, 5-4, but by that time nerves were causing leg cramps. Gaudio, who spent the first two sets trying to hit winners and failing to settle into the match, finally loosened up when the Parisian crowd did "The Wave," to the delight of both players.

"I believe it was fundamental, because when I was down 4-3, I was very nervous," Gaudio said. "I couldn't feel the ball properly. I was not enjoying it all at that moment. Suddenly, the crowd did the wave, and I enjoyed my tennis more. I enjoyed the match, and I came back into the match."

Coria failed to serve out the match, calling for medical time-outs after having trouble putting weight on the leg, and watching Gaudio run away with the fourth set.

"In the middle of the third set, it started," Coria said. "I felt cramps. I thought that I should try not to have cramps, and I was rather thinking about that than the match. But I had cramps. I was not able to play...In the fourth set, I was absolutely exhausted."

Coria took a 3-1 lead in the fifth, served for the match at 5-4, then served for the match again at 6-5 to no avail, failing to convert on two match points. Gaudio leveled it at 6-6, then won the next two games, throwing his racquet high in the air as Coria walked to his chair and smashed his racquet to pieces in tears.

Gaudio was 1-9 in five-set matches entering the event, is the fourth player to overcome an 0-2 set deficit and win a slam, at No. 44 is the lowest-ranked player to win a slam, and is the first Argentine to win at Roland Garros since Guillermo Vilas in 1977. It is Gaudio's first title of the year.

In the Sunday Roland Garros women's doubles final, the Spanish/Argentine tandem of Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez won their third consecutive slam title, beating No. 2-seeded Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Likhovtseva 6-0, 6-3.

The final was a repeat of January's Aussie Open championship, and was the third French title for the pair. Ruano Pascual and Suarez have played in nine consecutive slam championships, two short of the 11 consecutive reached by Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver.

ATP PREVIEWS
Andy Roddick is back on the grass to defend his title at Queen's this week, otherwise known as The Stella Artois Championships. A-Rod will be challenged by a host of grasscourt talent among the 16 seeds in former Wimbledon winner Andre Agassi, four-time Wimbledon semifinalist Tim Henman, last year's Henman-killer at Wimbledon Sebastien Grosjean, former Wimbledon winner Lleyton Hewitt, Thai Paradorn Srichaphan, Wimbledon runner-up Mark Philippoussis, net-crusher Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, bomber Taylor Dent, big man "Dr." Ivo Karlovic, and former Wimbledon semifinalist Todd Martin. Also among the seeded are Roland Garros winner Guillermo Coria, Sjeng Schalken, Robby Ginepri, David Ferrer and Radek Stepanek. First-round oddities include a wildcard face-off in Canadian Frank Dancevic (who beat Greg Rusedski last week at the Surbiton Challenger) vs. embattled Brit Arvind Parmar, Rusedski vs. a qualifier, (14)Karlovic vs. Jan-Mike Gambill, unseeded former Wimbledon champ Goran Ivanisevic vs. Victor Hanescu, and the No. 2 seeded Coria who after a first-round bye will likely face Aussie serving machine Wayne Arthurs (flock to the on-line betting site for this one).

Potential match-ups down the road are (1)Roddick vs. (16)T.Martin in the third round, (6)Hewitt vs. (11)Dent in the third round, (3)Agassi vs. (6)Hewitt/(11)Dent in the fourth round, (4)Henman vs. Rusedski in the fourth round, and (9)Philippoussis vs. Ivanisevic in the second round. Former champs in the field are Roddick (2003), Hewitt (2002-00), Philippoussis (1997), and T.Martin (1994).

On court Monday at Queen's are (14)Karlovic vs. Gambill, Rusedski vs. (Q)H.-T. Lee, (11)Dent vs. (Q)Delgado, an all-American doubles in Agassi/Roddick vs. Ginepri/Merklein, C.Rochus vs. (WC)Marray, (WC)Dancevic vs. (WC)Parmar, Gasquet vs. Andreev, (10)Max "The Beast" Mirnyi vs. Mahut, Olivier "All We Need is Just a Little" Patience vs. (13)Ferrer, Vacek vs. (Q)Whitehouse, Van Lottum vs. Kucera, M.Lopez vs. Tursunov, Benneteau vs. Dupuis in an all-French, (Q)Reid vs. Ascione, Lu vs. Arthurs, and Koubek vs. Sanguinetti.

Reigning champ Roger Federer and Rainer Schuettler head the field at Halle for the Gerry Weber Open, joined by seeds Jiri Novak, Martin Verkerk, Marat Safin, Mardy Fish, Andrei Pavel, and Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez. Interesting first-rounders abound in the field filled with big hitters and imposing serves, with (1)Federer vs. Swedish veteran Thomas Johansson in a battle of former champs, (7)Pavel vs. Germany's own Alexander "My Serve Has" Popp, (3)Novak vs. huge-serving Ivan Ljubicic, (8)F-Lo vs. German wildcard Tommy Haas, (6)Fish vs. veteran German doubles specialist David Prinosil, (5)Safin vs. Swedish grasscourt veteran Jonas Bjorkman, an all-German unseeded match-up in former champ Nicolas Kiefer vs. Lars Burgsmuller, and an all-Swedish unseeded match-up between comers Joachim Johansson and Robin Soderling. Last year Federer beat Kiefer in the final. Former champs in the field are Federer (2003), T.Johansson (2001), Prinosil (2000), and Kiefer (1999).

On court today at Halle are (WC)Waske vs. Clement, (WC)Haas vs. (8)F.Lopez, Popp vs. (7)Pavel, (6)Fish vs. (WC)Prinosil, (3)Novak vs. Ljubicic, Volandri vs. Sargsian, (Q)Kratochvil vs. (LL)Chiudinelli, and Carlsen vs. (Q)Berrer.

WTA PREVIEW
The women move to the grass this week at the lone 64-draw WTA event in Birmingham, with only one Top 10 player in Russian Nadia Petrova, joined by two Top 20 players in Patty "Handshake" Schnyder, and Maria "The Model" Sharapova. Rounding out the top eight seeds are Maggie Maleeva, Jelena Dokic, Nathalie Dechy, Eleni Dannilidou, and Alicia Molik. Only a couple of attractions/oddities in the opening round with (10)Marie Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela facing Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain in a claystyle-on-grass, (9)Emilie Loit facing Brit wildcard Jane O'Donoghue, (15)Elena Likhovtseva vs. French prodigy and Roland Garros mixed doubles winner Tatiana Golovin, and Daniela "The Walking Stick" Hantuchova vs. Korea's Yoon Jeong Cho. In last year's final, the No. 3-seeded Maleeva beat Japan's Asagoe for the title. Returning champs are Maleeva (2003) and Dokic (2002).

NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
Hey Bud Collins, it's obvious the interview is over when Gaston Gaudio is trying to get away from you, yet you still have your hand on his shoulder throwing softball questions...The Williams sisters say they won't practice on grass for Wimbledon: "We never do," Venus said. "Hardcourts are good enough."...14-year-old Sesil "The Mouth" Karatancheva won the girl's title at Roland Garros, following in the Bulgarian footsteps of the three Maleeva sisters in 1982, 1984 and 1990...From ESPN's Sunday coverage: "Yesterday after the short women's final there was a wonderfully entertaining men's doubles final..." Well, we wouldn't know because instead of showing it as it was occurring live, you slapped on a TAPE of the Tim Henman-Guillermo Coria match. ESPN, the worldwide leader in taped tennis...Andre Agassi is just one match victory away from recording his 800th career win...Mardy Fish is playing at Halle for the first time since Houston, returning from a hip injury...With two match points, the 2-0 set lead, the cramps and his failure to put the match away, it's pretty safe to say that Guillermo Coria choked away the French Open: "I became nervous. It was new for me," Coria said. "I had the experience of other tournaments, of other matches, but I couldn't control this nervousness at that moment. I hope that I will be able to work a bit more on that...I was thinking about the victory. It seemed very close, a couple of games to achieve my dream. Maybe that was against me."...Hey Guillermo, there's this thing that keeps you from cramping, it's called Gatorade -- it has salt in it...In the French boys' singles final (1)Gael Monfils beat (14)Alex Kuznetsov 6-2, 6-2, and in the girl's final (1)Sesil "The Mouth" Karatancheva beat unseeded Madalina Gojnea 6-4, 6-0...The overnight ratings for the all-Russian women's final at the French Open were down 23 percent from last year's all-Belgian final...Tim Henman has never won the Queen's title...French tennis officials are seeking approval to expand the Roland Garros complex and build a $136 million, 16,000-seat tennis stadium with a retractable roof...Gaston Gaudio's coach Franco Davin: "I told him at the end of the last year's clay court season that he needed to learn how to finish off points and that by this year's Roland Garros, he would learn to close. He also needed to get things straight in his personal life. I told him I want to see you in the Top 10 In the rankings at the end of 2004 Roland Garros. We changed a lot of thing in the off season mentally and physically, but sometimes you don't see the results immediately. Sometimes you have to go down a little, before you go up."