[女娃] Russian women sweep French Open semifinals
By STEVEN WINE, AP Sports Writer
June 3, 2004
PARIS (AP) -- Jennifer Capriati's French Open encore turned out to
be a flop.
Unable to duplicate the shotmaking that helped her beat Serena Williams,
Capriati was upset 6-2, 6-2 Thursday by Anastasia Myskina, who advanced
to an all-Russian final.
Myskina's opponent Saturday will be Elena Dementieva, who beat Paola
Suarez 6-0, 7-5. The final will produce the first women's Grand Slam
champion from Russi.
Capriati, who came up short in a bid for her fourth major title, was
impatient and sloppy against the No. 6-seeded Myskina.
``Just one of those days, you know?'' Capriati said. ``I had no rhythm,
no timing on my shots. They were flying.''
The elimination of the 2001 champion was the latest in a series of
surprises over the past two weeks at Roland Garros.
Upsets sidelined Serena and Venus Williams and defending champion Justine
Henin-Hardenne, and No. 2-ranked Kim Clijsters missed the tournament
with an injured wrist. It's the first time in four years that all four
players were absent from a Grand Slam semifinal.
But the breakthrough by Russian women is not a surprise. On the WTA
Tour they have 10 players ranked among the top 43, and five of the
top 13.
Whether it was nerves or a hangover from her quarterfinal victory over
Serena Williams, Capriati started poorly and never improved. She lost
17 of the first 22 points, fell behind 3-0, won consecutive games but
then served badly to lose the final game of the set.
``I was really nervous,'' Myskina said. ``Maybe Jennifer was as well,
but something was wrong with her, definitely.''
Myskina, who beat Venus Williams in the quarterfinals, again rose to
the occasion and overcame her jitters. Wispy but agile and versatile,
she moved well and kept Capriati on the defensive with an impressive
array of shots.
In one game Myskina hit a forehand volley, strong serve and deft drop
shot for winners on consecutive points.
Capriati said her rhythm was thrown off by the pace of Myskina's shots
-- much slower than groundstrokes hit by, say, Serena Williams.
``There's a little bit of tension, and when you're not swinging freely,
it's especially hard,'' Capriati said. ``Usually you can use some of the
pace, but when you have to create it all yourself, it's harder than
most people think.''
Capriati had 36 unforced errors and just 11 winners, and she became
increasingly frustrated as the match progressed.
Early in the second set she sailed a return long, then pounded the clay
twice with her misbehaving racket. In the next-to-last game she appeared
to sock a return as hard as she could, and it landed in the net to give
Myskina a 5-2 lead.
``She's hitting serves what, like, 50 mph?'' Capriati said. ``Usually
I should be able to just take those shots and hit winners, but nothing
was going in today.''
On the first match point, Myskina smacked a return winner crosscourt
to complete the victory. She calmly walked to the net to shake hands,
then patted her racket strings, and that was the extent of her
center-court celebration.
``I'm really surprised that I'm still in Paris,'' Myskina said.
She and Dementieva are first-time Grand Slam finalists. Both are 22,
and Myskina said they've known each other since they were 6 or 7.
They took lessons from Marat Safin's mother as youngsters and have
been doubles partners.
``We do everything together, and we're pretty good friends,'' she said,
adding with a smile, ``I hope.''
They're the first Russians to reach a women's Grand Slam final since
Dementieva's coach, Olga Morozova, was the runner-up at Wimbledon in
1974. Natalia Zvereva, who is from Belarus, was runner-up at the 1988
French Open.
The inexperience of the No. 9-seeded Dementieva and No. 14 Suarez
on such a big occasion was reflected in their shaky play. There were
17 double-faults, 12 service breaks, 69 unforced errors and just 25
winners.
Dementieva started well and was steadier at the finish, winning the
final three games.
``It's incredible,'' she said. ``It was always my dream to play a
Roland Garros final. I'm so happy.''
While Argentine Suarez lost, her country is assured of its first
men's finalist at Roland Garros since Guillermo Vilas was the 1982
runner-up. Friday's semifinals will include three men from Argentina,
a Grand Slam record.
No. 8-seeded David Nalbandian will play unseeded Gaston Gaudio, and
No. 3 Guillermo Coria will play No. 9 Tim Henman, the first Englishman
in 41 years to reach the semifinals at Roland Garros.
A shaky Suarez played in her first Grand Slam semifinal at age 27,
and it showed.
``I felt so nervous,'' she said. ``I'm really angry actually. I think
soon that I'll get over my anger, and then I'll be able to remember
the good moments I've gone through.''
Trailing 0-5, the Argentine double-faulted for the third time and
screamed in frustration. Two points later she double-faulted again
to lose the set.
The match then settled into a series of cautious rallies reminiscent
of the way women played on clay 20 years ago. Suarez began to hit
loopy shots in the middle of the court and wait for errors by
Dementieva.
The strategy worked, and Suarez served for the second set at 5-4.
But she failed to hold, and serving again at 5-6, she was pushed
to match point and double-faulted for the eighth time.
``It was nervous for both of us,'' Dementieva said. ``I wasn't
trying to be perfect on the court. I was trying to win, no matter
what. And I did.''
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