|
FINAL: Capriati D Clijsters 1-6, 6-4, 12-10
This second title after the Australian Open, confirmed her revival. In an interview given two years later she
said, "The victory in Paris wasn't casual. It was a target I've been able to conquer". The final against
the eighteen-year-old Belgian Kim Clijsters was very exciting even though at the beginning errors prevailed, and
the score demonstrated it. The match ended 12-10 in the third set (without a tiebreak). It's worth mentioning what
Jen said on the stage, after the awards ceremony. She dedicated her victory to Corina Morariu, an American tennis
player suffering from leukaemia and she asked everybody to pray for her recovery (Corina came back to the circuit
in 2002).
Walking toward the final
FIRST ROUND. Capriati D Loit 6-2, 7-5
SECOND ROUND. Capriati D Garbin 6-2, 6-1
THIRD ROUND. Capriati D Lucic 6-3, 6-1
FOURTH ROUND. Capriati D Shaughnessy 7-5, 6-1
QUARTERFINAL. Capriati D S. Williams 6-2, 5-7, 6-2
SEMIFINAL. Capriati D Hingis 6-4, 6-3
Final's report
Jennifer started serving but in the second game she wasted 4 balls for the break. In the third, fifth and seventh
game she lost her serve and she lost the first set 6-1.
In the second set Jen won a break in the third game but she lost her serve in the fourth (2-2). She won another
break in the fifth game and thanks to that she won the second set 6-4.
Jen started with an aggressive attitude in the third and decisive set. She won the second ball of the break but
she lost her service in the following turn (1-1). The match was balanced till 6-6 (in the twelfth game Kim
Clijsters was two points far from victory twice). Without the tiebreak they continued to the bitter end. In the
thirteenth game Jen stole the service from Kim and served for the match (7-6), but, although she was two points
far from the match four times, she didn’t take advantage of her chances and she lost her service while Kim kept
her (8-7). Jen had to serve to remain in the match and she did it at her best closing the game with a forehand
long line. In the nineteenth game Jen stole the service from Kim and she had a second opportunity to win the match
but she lost it by losing her service (10-10). In the following game she won a break point and she served for the
third time for the match. Jennifer understood that she had to do something different to win - ATTACK. In the
decisive match she was more aggressive, descending to the net two times (and she won both the points) and she
closed the match at the second opportunity with a winning forehand.
WTA article
CAPRIATI COMEBACK CONTINUES
PARIS (Ticker) -- American Jennifer Capriati survived a nightmare start and the longest third set in women's
French Open history Saturday to beat Kim Clijsters, 1-6, 6-4, 12-10 and claim her second straight Grand Slam title.
The fourth-seeded Capriati captured her first career major at the Australian Open in January and is the first woman
to claim the first two legs of the Grand Slam since Monica Seles won in Melbourne and Paris in 1992.
"I just can't believe I have won two Grand Slams in a row," Capriati said. "Really I am just waiting to wake
up from this dream. It doesn't seem like reality right now."
"I think anything (a Grand Slam) is possible," Capriati said. "I didn't think I would win the first or the
second so a third or a fourth...who knows."
In a career highlighted by dramatic comebacks, Capriati was forced to produce one of her greatest against Clijsters,
the Belgian teenager who celebrated her 18th birthday on Friday, to earn the $557,000 first prize. The 12th-seeded
Clijsters was serenaded with chants of "Happy Birthday" by Belgian supporters as she walked onto the court, and then
swept through the opening set in just 29 minutes. But the 25-year-old Capriati, who is fast developing a reputation
as one of the grittiest competitors in women's tennis, fought back to level the match and then dug in for a nailbiting
and exhausting third-set slugfest. Twice in the final set Capriati would break Clijsters, forging ahead 7-6 and 10-9.
But each time Clijsters clawed back to extend the contest. But when Capriati broke again to go up 11-10, the Belgian
had run out of answers, watching helplessly as Capriati, on her second match point, blistered a forehand winner deep
into the corner to seal an epic win after two hours and 21 minutes.
As the crowd erupted, Capriati jumped up and down and twirled around on Center Court and then looked at her parents
and brother sitting in the players box, punching her clenched fists into the air in a gesture of triumph.
"I want to thank my family for everything they have done for me," Capriati said.
"Without them I wouldn't be here today. I owe them so much."
The day did not get off to a promising start for Capriati, who held her opening serve but then appeared distracted and
unnerved as the Belgian baseliner roared through the next seven games, taking the opening set and a 1-0 lead in the
second.
"She played unbelievable that first set," Capriati said. "But at the right times I picked it up. I really
settled down at the start of the second set. "It was probably just nerves and she was playing well. But I was able to
hang in there. I knew there would be a time when she would let up a bit."
But Capriati slowly began to pull her act together in the second set getting the decisive break to go up 3-2 on her
way to leveling the match and setting the stage for a tense and entertaining final set.
"It was a surreal feeling," Capriati said. "Just standing there all the people clapping for me, just made me
happy. I was looking over at my family, it was just an amazing feeling. Nothing about my past went through my mind at
all. It's like here and now and that's it."
With her win, Capriati becomes only the fifth player to have won the Australian and French Opens in the same year and
the first American to wear the French crown since Chris Evert in 1986. It also added another chapter in Capriati's
remarkable renaissance, having turned her life and career around after setbacks.
|
.gif){kind=small}