Kuerten king again as Pierce rolls back the years

They duly met on a balmy day on Centre Court where both men’s nerves frayed before Brazil’s fifth-seeded Kuerten pulled himself together after squandering an incredible 10 match points to oust his third-seeded Swedish rival after a 3hr, 44min thriller. It was only the second Grand Slam title of 23-year-old Kuerten’s career but the second in four years at Roland Garros for the King of Clay.

Norman, the current leader of the ATP Champions race, had dropped only one set in reaching the final but melted under the pressure of his first Grand Slam final in the opening two sets. The Swede failed to end a 12-year Swedish drought here going back to Mats Wilander’s third success in 1988.

Kuerten, who beat Sergi Bruguera of Spain in the 1997 final, joined Guillermo Vilas of Argentina as the only South Americans to win multiple Grand Slam titles during the Open Era. "It’s nice to win here again. This is the place where I started to show my game. To win it twice isn’t so easy," acknowledged Kuerten, nicknamed ‘Guga’.

His triumph unleashed scenes of jubilation among the sizeable Brazilian contingent. Kuerten almost didn’t make it as he was on the verge of defeat against both Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the quarter-finals and Spanish newcomer Juan Carlos Ferrero in the semis.

Both had him on the ropes — neither could finish him off. "Kafelnikov was my worst nightmare," laughed Kuerten, who noted he had beaten the same player in the same round when he won the event three years ago. Once again, the omens were good.

Top-seeded Agassi, who had won 28 of his previous 29 Grand Slam matches, was out-worked by Kucera over the final three sets. But he also paid the price for not preparing for the event having skipped Hamburg after a poor showing in Rome. There had already been a shock on the opening day when Pete Sampras’ 11th bid for glory on the slow, red clay suffered its usual fate as the former world number one — going for a record 13th Grand Slam title in all – bowed out to Australian giant Mark Philippoussis, who won 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 8-6.

There was an early shock among the women, too, as Belgium’s Dominique Van Roost sent second seed Lindsay Davenport of the United States tumbling out in the opening round, winning 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-3 with Davenport hampered by a back injury and Van Roost by cramp in her forearm.

And the upsets didn’t end there for the women as top-seeded Swiss miss Martina Hingis showed she is developing a Sampras-like complex about the event, failing again to lift the only Grand Slam singles title she has still to win. Sampras will surely empathise. Hingis, twice a beaten finalist and making her sixth appearance here, reached the semi-finals with little ado — though she was not playing her best tennis. And when push came to shove she was the one shoved out, ironically by doubles partner Mary Pierc, who won 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.

The pair would later rekindle their friendship by landing the doubles title. With Davenport out, three-time champion Monica Seles hampered by a heavy cold, reduced pace creeping slowly up on another three-time winner Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and the retirement of Graf, her tormentor in last year’s final, everything was in Hingis’ favour this year. Yet, she came up short. "I started playing too late," was Hingis’ explanation. "She played smarter today and she overpowered me in the third."

But the teen added defiantly: "I’ve a lot of years in front of me."