France Scores Surprise and Wins First Point
27 Nov 2004 - Krylatskoe Ice Stadium, Moscow, RUS - Craig Gabriel - RUS v FRA
France Scores Surprise and Wins First Point
Nathalie Dechy indicated that it was one of the most exciting matches of her
career. It was probably one of the most important wins of her career. The
world No. 21 gave France the first point of the Fed Cup Final against Russia
at the Ice Stadium when she beat the hotly-favoured US Open champion Svetlana
Kuznetsova 36 76 86 in two hours 25 minutes.
"Each point I this final is going to be very tough but it is so good to start
with the first point of the final, we need two more and it's going to be a
battle," said Dechy.
Outside the mercury was struggling to even lift itself up to freezing point
as a few snow flurries floated and swirled around. Inside former President
Boris Yeltsin, a tennis fanatic, had pride of place in the stadium and lead
the Russian support amid an electric and deafening atmosphere. It was at
fever pitch. This type of enthusiasm is normally reserved for events such
as Fed Cup and Davis Cup when the pride of a nation is on the line rather
than just that of an individual.
"They are the favourites and they have the higher rankings but we felt we
still had a chance to win this one so we are going to go for this one," said
Dechy.
After serving out the first set to love with a forehand cross court winner,
Kuznetsova broke serve in the first game of the second set and kept that
advantage right up to when she had to serve for the match. The first point
of the weekend was almost on Kuznetsova's racket strings as she served for
it at 5-4, set but Dechy said she could see that the Russian was starting
to tighten up and she struck back to level the set at 5-5.
The French player raced to a 4-1 lead in the tiebreak and Kuznetsova rallied
back to make it 4-4 but Dechy kept pressing. Dechy held a set point at 6-4
and the Russian threw in a double fault to surrender the set.
The third set went with serve but in the ninth game Dechy turned on the
pressure and incredibly she broke for 5-4. This time she seemed to get the
shakes as Kuznetsova broke back.
For many the number 13 is unlucky and that was the case for Kuznetsova.
Serving to take a 7-6 lead, she played a horrible service game and threw
in her third double fault to lose her serve to love. As one would expect,
Dechy was glowing with adrenaline and with fist clenched and pumped she
held serve to claim victory on her second match point when Kuznetsova
sent a forehand long.
"I knew she was going to go for her shots, she is very powerful and I
knew she would play hard. I knew what to expect so it wasn't hard for me
to keep my rhythm."
The Russian's play was erratic and her high error court of 77 was a telling
factor. Sure she is a player that goes for her shots, in fact in the recent
US Open final which she won, Svetlana had more errors than Elena Dementieva,
but against Dechy, Kuznetsova was lacking consistency. She plainly said she
lost the match.
"I was not thinking positively or what I have to correct but it is also tough
to do during the game," said Kuznetsova. "I'm very upset to have lost this
match but I will be working hard in the reverse singles to cut out many of
the mistakes."
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