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| 08 Jun 2001 | |
| The Rise and Rise of Eastern Europe at Roland Garros |
By Chris Bowers
The rise and rise of tennis in eastern Europe is reflected in the girls’ singles final at Roland Garros, which will see a Russian play an Estonian on Sunday morning.
It was the inclusion of tennis in the Olympics as a full sport in 1988 which motivated the old Soviet Union to put money into tennis development, and the draws for junior tournaments these days testify to the success of that expenditure.
Svetlana Kuznetsova – who was born in Leningrad before the city built by Peter the Great returned to its original name of St Petersburg – won the Banana Bowl earlier this year, and is now into the Roland Garros final after beating Claudine Schaul 7-6 6-3. On Sunday she starts as underdog against Kaia Kanepi, the Estonian who will be celebrating her 16th birthday. She is just 17 days older than Kuznetsova.
Kuznetsova had by far the longer semi-final, a match which had a fluctuating first set. Schaul opened up a 3-1 lead, but Kuznetsova reeled off four straight games, and at 0-40 up on the Schaul serve she seemed to have the set in her grip. But she missed all three set points, plus a fourth in the following game, and then had to save a set point for the Luxembourger at 6-5. Schaul led the tiebreak 4-3, before Kuztnesova won four points to take the first set. Once she had opened up a 3-0 lead in the second, she was never threatened, but still needed four match points to finish the job in an hour and 22 minutes.
Kanepi, the champion in Milan two weeks ago, is the first notable tennis name from the small Baltic state that was part of the Soviet Union from 1939 to 1989. She continued the terrific run that has humiliated many an opponent this past week, beating Ashley Harkleroad 6-1 6-3 in just 50 minutes. The second game saw the parting of the ways, Kanepi breaking serve on her fourth break point, after which she was never troubled.
Kanepi’s forehand has been the big hit of the week, and it was interesting that three of the four games Harkleroad won came against the serve – the Estonian is clearly much more powerful attacking the serve than attacking behind her own.
The boys’ singles semi-finals take place on Saturday, but the line-up for the boys’ doubles is already known, and it gives Alejandro Falla Ramirez the chance of a double.
Falla and his fellow Colombian Carlos Salamanca came through both their quarter-final and semi-final matches in three sets. In the final they will play Germany’s Markus Bayer and Philipp Petzschner, who benefited from a walkover over Carlos Cuadrado and Fernando Verdasco after Cuadrado withdrew with abdominal pain.>Full results from the Roland Garros can be found on www.rolandgarros.com
Click here to view the 2001 Roland Garros picture gallery.
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