Guga goes gaga at Roland Garros

The South American won on his 11th match point after 3 hour 44 minutes of a nerve-jangling finale. The tense fourth set lasted 95 minutes.

Third-seeded Norman played a major role in his own demise as his nerves crumbled in the first two sets of his first Grand Slam final and he made a stream of unforced errors.

Kuerten, who had come into the match with back problems after surviving two five-set marathons in the last two rounds, had forecast that his experience of the big occasion would give him the edge — and he was proved right.

He was too cool, too calm, too collected — until it came to converting match points.

The Brazilian’s win gave him more than just the title — he also leapfrogs over Norman to take top spot in the ATP Champions Race when the new rankings are issued on Monday.

The 23-year-old Brazilian picked up 4,240,000 francs (about Rs 2.60 crore) for his win with Norman, 24, pocketing half that sum. In his first final here Kuerten had slaughtered Sergi Bruguera of Spain in a one-sided affair.

And a repeat looked on the cards as he streaked into a two-set lead. Norman fought back, however, enjoying a purple patch as he won six straight games to wrap up the third set and break for a 1-0 lead in the fourth.

It was the eighth career title for the man they call the King of Clay and his third this year after Santiago and the Hamburg Masters Series.

Along with Guillermo Vilas of Argentina he is one of only two South Americans to have won multiple Grand Slams in the Open Era.

It was Kuerten’s fourth win in six meetings with Norman, who failed in his bid to become the first Swede to win here since Mats Wilander in 1988.

Norman had dominated all his previous opponents here, dropping just one set when Russian 12th seed Marat Safin pushed him to four sets in the quarter-finals.

But, gripped by nerves, he made the worst possible start, dropping his first two service games and after just a quarter of an hour `Guga’ was 4-0 up.

Kuerten had to save three break points before holding for 5-1 but went on to take the set in 41min.

The Swede switched shirts from white to black after the set but it did nothing to lighten his mood and earned the wrath of the crowd for angrily slamming down his racket as Kuerten held for 2-0.

Norman’s serve was even more fragile in the second set when he was successful with only 37 percent of first serves.

Kuerten again moved to a 5-2 lead, then dropped serve before breaking Norman again to take a stranglehold on the proceedings. Not only did Kuerten dominate from the baseline, he frequently embarassed Norman with some deft drop shots.

The Swede added a white baseball cap to his attire at the start of the fourth set but he could not shut out the tension.

Kuerten thought he’d Won it on his first match point at 4-5, 15-40 on Norman’s serve. The Brazilian walked to the net ready to shake hands and was stunned when the umpire ruled that the Swede’s drive from the back court had landed on the line.

The Brazilian angrily disputed the call before fluffing his second match point.

Norman then saved a third match point and held serve after another line call dispute went against Kuerten.

Norman then saved yet another four match points at 5-6 – greeting each as if he had won the title to force the tie-break after nine deuces and endless drama.

But Kuerten was not to be denied and won it after squandering three more match points in the tie-breaker.