Golovin Levels and Doubles Will Decide
28 Nov 2004 - Krylatskoe Ice Stadium, Moscow, RUS - Jo Sirman - RUS v FRA
Golovin Levels and Doubles Will Decide
Ice queen Tatiana Golovin pulled off a thrilling upset against Svetlana
Kuznetsova to keep France in the Fed Cup Final against Russia. After her
64 61 victory, the nations are tied at 2-2 and everything now hangs on
the doubles.
Moscow-born Golovin kept her cool to hand the US Open champion her second
defeat of the weekend, following yesterday's loss to Nathalie Dechy. Just
like on Saturday, Kuznetsova made too many errors, while her opponent kept
calm under pressure to secure the straight-sets triumph in one hour 19
minutes.
"I definitely feel really good," said a delighted Golovin. "It was a good
match and it proves I can beat the best players. It gives me a lot of
confidence to work and also for next year."
The 2004 Fed Cup champion nation will now be decided in the doubles. Russia
has changed its original line-up, taking out Elena Likhovtseva and replacing
her with Anastasia Myskina, winner of both her singles matches. The Russian
No. 1 will team with Vera Zvonareva against France's Marion Bartoli and
Emilie Loit, whose pairing is unchanged.
Kuznetsova, the world No. 5, started well in the fourth singles match,
pressurising her 16-year-old opponent on her service games, but it was
Golovin who broke first to take a 4-2 lead. Kuznetsova broke straight
back, and had two break points with Golovin serving at 4-4, but the
French girl served her way out of trouble, and a game later she jumped
on two bad errors from the Russian to sneak the set at her first
opportunity.
"I was watching Kuznetsova's match very carefully yesterday when she
played Nathalie so I knew how she played," Golovin later explained.
That proved to have been a good strategy, as the US Open champion's game
was as erratic as it had been on Saturday, her go-for-broke style too
often yielding mistakes rather than brilliant winners. Nonetheless Golovin
played with maturity beyond her years, looking like a veteran of this kind
of pressure rather than the Fed Cup debutante (in singles) that she is.
Golovin survived a fierce challenge from Kuznetsova in the opening game of
the second set, successfully blocking out the urgings of the 5,000-strong
mainly Russian crowd to hold her serve and then break a game later. She
refused to be phased when she dropped her own serve in the third game,
making the most of one of Kuznetsova's many errors to break again and
take a 3-1 lead.
During the match Kuznetsova made 46 unforced errors compared to 14 winners,
while No. 27-ranked Golovin made only 19 unforced errors, and hit 11
winners.
Kuznetsova became more and more disheartened at her lack of success, and
was surely haunted by her loss on Saturday and the weight of expectation
all around her in the Krylatskoe Ice Stadium. Another error, this time a
wide backhand, handed ice-cool Golovin a double break and she served out
for a famous victory.
A devastated Kuznetsova said, "I couldn't make right my unforced errors and
the positive things from yesterday had gone. I didn't serve well and I didn't
play the right tennis tactically." She added, "I should be showing a
different kind of tennis, I should be demanding the terms. I need to play
more consistently indoors; outdoors it is fine but indoors I must do more."
But there was no denying Golovin's oustanding performance. "In a match like
that a few points can change everything. She really surpassed herself and
she played beyond her capabilities," said Kuznetsova.
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