INFOS
Saturday 6 June - As it happenedSaturday, June 6, 2009
Seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova is the 2009 French Open champion after she brushed aside fellow Russian Dinara Safina 6-4 6-2 in a mere 75 minutes, while Dlouhy and Paes took the men's doubles title. Relive all the action here.
7.16 pm: Well, what a day. Svetlana doubles her Grand Slam account - five years after her first title to date - while Dinara comes up short again in a major final. What will tomorrow's men's final bring… Be there - don't miss it! See you here tomorrow. Til then… always a pleasure, never a chore…
7.01 pm: Paes finishes off with an ace and a love game, and goes and gives Martina Navratilova a hug! Congrats to this year's men's doubles champions - Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes.
6.58 pm: 5-2 after another break. Time is running out for the team in lemon…
6.54 pm: Dlouhy holds, despite a raft of break points. 4-2 to the pair in white.
6.43 pm: Break to Dlouhy and Paes, who made the final of last year's US Open.
6.37 pm: 6-3 to the yellows in the first set, 6-3 to the white-shirters in the second, with Paes showing no ill-effects of the ball being pinged off his nose earlier. We're into a final set (a full set as opposed to a match tie-break).
5.56 pm: 5-3, Norman serving and Dlouhy and Paes save set point after set point! The fifth one is finally the charm and the tall South African/Belgian pairing is a set to the good.
5.46 pm: The taller pair are dominating the net and that's a 5-2 first-set lead in their ample pockets. Paes to serve.
5.37 pm: 3-1 Moodie and Norman but at least Paes is up and running again.
5.31 pm: Paes takes a Norman forehand right in the bridge of the nose. He's got an ice-bag on it now and the trainer's out…
5.25 pm: Moodie returns services over Paes… head at the net (told you he was too small…) and the mellow yellows (they are wearing matching lemon-coloured tops) are a break to the good.
5.22 pm: Lefty Norman opens and holds serve. This pair are 6…8… and 6…5… respectively. Whoosh! Leander Paes meanwhile is 5…10 ½… - fine if you're blogging, I find, but not ideal when you're up against a Belgian who's nigh on a foot taller…
5.08 pm: Out come the finalists for the men's doubles - No3 seeds Lucas Dlouhy and Leander Paes against the unseeded pairing of Wes Moodie and Dick Norman.
4.39 pm: Sveta's also thrilled that she got to meet her heroine Steffi Graf.
4.38 pm: Sveta takes the mike and announces that this is her favourite tournament - as well it might be!
4.37 pm: In a voice on the point of cracking, Dinara congratulates Svetlana and thanks the tournament organisers as well as her coaching team. Poor thing. She receives a rapturous ovation at the end.
4.35 pm: The Russian national anthem is played in honour of the winner.
4.34 pm: Dina takes her plate with good grace, then up bounds Svetlana and holds the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen aloft!
4.32 pm: Out comes Steffi to present the trophies, looking as radiant as ever.
4.31 pm: Well played Sveta! She stayed steady as Dinara's world crumbled around her…
4.28 pm: Kuznetsova can barely bring herself to celebrate as Dinara is on the brink of tears. Off she goes though, Sveta, to receive the hugs and accolades of her entourage as she celebrates her second Grand Slam, five years after the first!
4.27 pm: Terrible first serve. Second serve, the ball kicks up enormously off the net cord and a double fault hands the title to Svetlana Kuznetsova! Dinara slams her racquet to the floor in sheer despair.
4.25 pm: Slice serve and Sveta wides. 30-15. Slower serve and Kuzi dominates. Dina then nets an easy one and it's match point…
4.22 pm: Big serve but Sveta outhits. 0-15. Dina looks on the point of tears here… Big serve, bigger forehand and a deft drop volley make it 15-all.
4.22 pm: Sveta holds to 5-2 - Dina again had her chances but snatched nervously far too early in far too many rallies. She's trying to shorten points and it isn't working. Again she stares at her corner, as if they can miraculously help her but this is a Grand Slam final - you're on your own out there… Another Mexican wave goes around the crowd.
4.20 pm: Sveta serves with new balls and Dinara obliges by loooonging two easy ones to make it 30-15.
4.19 pm: Mansour Bahrami and Martina Navratilova look on concernedly as Doctor Dinara gets her first services in but Miss Safin-Hyde makes four unforced errors to hand a crucial break to Svetlana. Dina stares at her coach, Zelkjo Krajan, for a long moment as she waits for the next game…
4.14 pm: The crowd indulges in a Mexican wave, and Kader calms 'em down.
4.13 pm: Two more decent serves and Svetlana holds. 3-2 and she's ¾ of the way to her first Slam in five years!
4.12 pm: 0-30. A sniff of a break… Sveta snuffs out the sniff with some good swervy serves but Dina still saves game point with a great service return. Deuce…
4.10 pm: Doctor Dina then serves cleverly - sliced, kicked, left, right - and holds to 15. Canny play. Can she put the pressure on Sveta… Hah, Sveta eats pressure for breakfast.
4.08 pm: Fifth double fault from Miss Safin-Hyde. 15-15…
4.05 pm: Sveta dominates, Dina battles back to 40-30 and then dominates the next point but Kuzi's defensive work is sterling and Dina eventually punts a forehand wide. 2-1.
4.01 pm: And Sveta comes roaring back. 30-30. She's moving far better than Dina and controlling play. Dina then cleverly sends down a kick serve as a first 'un and Sveta finds nothing but net: 40-30. Another net next up and it's 1-1. I always fancy Dinara to break - to break anyone in fact - but her serve really isn't inspiring confidence…
3.59 pm: I sat next to Lea Pericoli at lunch and I've just spotted Nicola Pietrangeli in the crowd - two legendary figures of Italian tennis, nice to see them here. Dina's serving better meanwhile: 30-15, three first serves which can only help her cause.
3.57 pm: Dina needs to conquer those nerves or this is going to be the third straight set Slam final defeat in as many attempts for her. She has so much strength, a fair amount of talent but as yet none of the necessary confidence. Sveta holds to 30 to open the second set, keeping her nose in front.
3.51 pm: Dina, or rather Miss Safin-Hyde - can't get her first serve over. Sveta pounces on her second ball with a backhand winner and it's double break and set point. Dina serves big and it's called out. Kader overrules but the point has to be replayed. This time Sveta is ready for it and forces Dinara to net at full stretch. 6-4 Kuznetsova!
3.49 pm: Dinara drops, Sveta makes it and out-drops her! 0-30! Sveta is two points from the set.
3.46 pm: And then Doctor Dinara breaks right back to lurve! Amazing!
3.44 pm: Two big serve and forehand follow-ups from Doctor Dinara make it 30-40, then a forehand from Sveta mysteriously keeps low and shoots under Dina's backhand. 5-3 and Svetlana will serve for the set…
3.42 pm: Miss Safin-Hyde opens her serve with what appears to be her customary double fault - four in as many games so far - and once again, it's 0-30, second serve. Will she dig herself out of a hole this time… She's dug a bigger hole this time - an easy forehand is netted and it's 0-40…
3.39 pm: Sveta's turn to out-hit. 4-3.
3.36 pm: Safina blasts her way back with decent serves and big forehands. It's the power game from her again - as she did against Cibulkova. 3-3.
3.32 pm: Steffi's in the crowd, wrapped up warm. After her recent comeback to launch the new Wimbledon centre court roof, maybe she fancies her chances here. She jokingly asked for a wild card at Wimbledon and I'm sure they'd happily give her one.
Miss Safin-Hyde double-faults to open her serve. Pretty soon it's 0-30, second serve… ah, great sliced second serve way out wide. 15-30.
3.31 pm: Dina nets at the end of a decent rally and it's 3-2 Sveta.
3.30 pm: Break point but Sveta steps up and serves big. Hopefully they're both settling down here…
3.28 pm: Lovely sliced backhand from Sveta sets up two game points. And then she double-faults… Then nets an easy one. Deuce…
3.25 pm: Dina holds - some half-decent serving and Sveta is so surprised that she nets some easy forehands.
3.22 pm: Dina gets over a first serve (after a let, nevertheless) and Sveta looongs. Is that enough to give her the confidence she needs… Nope - she promptly double-faults...
3.19 pm: Points with serve, at last! Big serves from Sveta and she sends Dina hither and thither, wrong-footing her at will. 2-1 as the St Petersburg No7 seed holds to love.
3.17 pm: 0-30… First serves waaaay long. Double fault. 0-40… Great first serve then a follow-up way long. Breakback mountain. 1-1.
3.14 pm: Lots of first serves but Safina races into a 0-40 lead (two great backhands then one which is hit so hard that even though it hits the net, it kicks up and dies on the other side). Another big hit - a forehand this time - and Dinara has broken to open! Great start for the No1 seed, who is looking for her first major here today - that was Doctor Dinara and no mistake. Who will serve now though - Dr Dina or Miss Safin-Hyde…
3.13 pm: Kuznetsova's decided to serve. Big mistake. Huge…
3.05 pm: Kader Nouni's in the chair and he officiates over the toss, which Dinara calls (I thought it was always the lower seeded player - perhaps the etiquette changes in the final) - Svetlana wins. No idea what she chose, but if I was here, I'd get Dinara to serve first up - see whether she's nervous or not. And why wouldn't she be… This is the biggest of stages…
3.02 pm: And here they come! Svetlana first, then No1 seed Dinara. Both of these players are great on clay and I'll be delighted for whichever one wins.
2.48 pm: It's mighty chilly out there but the rain seems to have moved on for the time being. Let's get those ladies out there! I'm half tempted to follow it up with Federer - Soderling as the forecast for tomorrow is pretty grim!
1.59 pm: Bad news for the Brits. Heather Watson lost her girls… doubles final, alongside Timea Babos, in a super tie-break. They won the first set but rising star Elena Bogdan and Noppawan Lertcheewakarn took the second, and squeezed through 10-8 in the tie-break (which took a quarter of an hour to play, after the first two sets in total took less than an hour!) Congrats anyway to the Romanian/Thai pairing.
1.48 pm: It's still not particularly pleasant out there, but the rain is juuuust about holding off. As long as we can get them out on court, it's the kind of weather we can play in.
12.22 pm: A lot of people are writing in concerned about the weather, for good reason if you're looking out of this window...raindrops are falling on their heads out there. But what's the forecast for 3pm I hear you ask… Well, better. The persistent rain should move away leaving cool, blustery conditions with the odd shower...
12 pm: Good morning, afternoon, evening everyone and welcome to the women's final. Can Dinara hold her nerve or will she stutter and stammer like she did in the quarters and semis… Has Svetlana got enough left in the tank after her epic quarter and semi-final victories over Serena and Sam… Safina has the strength, Svetlana the clay-court savvy. This pair met in two finals in the space of six days just a month ago, with Kuznetsova taking the Stuttgart title and Safina got her revenge and lifted the Rome trophy the following Saturday.
Dinara in two tight sets for me, a la Rome. But what do I know… Write in and give me your thoughts…
By Andrew Lilley
Développé par PA SportEV