Hail, Svetlana Kuznetsova!

I wanted to pen this yesterday immediately after the match, but Blogger was down intermittently for more than a good half day.. and I didn't have time to do this until now. Anyway, though it's kinda 23 hours late, but still, better late than never I guess.. :)

The title of this posting was decided exactly when the scoreline of the match between Kuzzie and Vadisova was 4-0 in the third set. After the title flashed acrossed my mind for a moment, immediately, said to myself, "Hey, don't get ahead of myself, the match's not over yet.. Vaidisova might fight back." Well, I suppose Vadisova did attempt to, but dear Kuzzie kept her calm and displayed a neat, tight and consistent performance in the final set to eliminate Vadisova and advance to her second Grand Slam final in her career.

Okay, I guess if you've read this far, you would know this is a biaised article from me.. I'm definitely pro-Kuzzie all the way. I've always liked Kuzzie and I'm really happy she managed to do what Amelie and Venus, my two other favorite players failed to. As for Vaidisova, she definitely played well.. and perhaps some may well argue that she was the better player during the match.. but still, my heart's with Kuzzie and undoubtably, her moment will come in future. Afterall, she's only 17...

Actually I missed much of the first set, only saw the opening when Kuzzie was leading 2-0 (I think). I only rejoined the match in the second set and was dismayed to see Vaidisova leading at 7-5, 3-1. Moving on, I was pretty depressed to see Kuzzie playing so conservatively, hitting very safe shots and hardly threatening Vaidisova at all. Vaidisova, in contrast, was dictating play and was hitting furious and hard and going for the lines as usual. The words "lost cause" were dancing around in my head already and I was really beginning to dislike Vaidisova a great deal for defeating three of my favorite players consecutively. (Yes, I can be a sore loser, hahahah..)
Somehow, while all the nonsense was going on in my head, a miracle happened. Kuzzie somehow, despite playing it safe and was non-threatening, actually broke Vaidisova's serve. Vaidisova started missing the lines and was hitting shots wide. After sending a forehand into the net, she started muttering to herself. And amusingly, she continued to do so upon missing shots thereafter. Vaidisova's error count started climbing while Kuzzie's went the reverse. And before I knew it, suddenly, both players were locked in a tie-break in the second set, and to my delight, Kuzzie prevailed 7-6(5) and she never looked back.

It was all smooth-sailing for Kuzzie in the third set, breaking Vaidisova's serve pretty easily as Vadisova's lapse in concentration continued and she continued to mutter to herself. And so, slow and steady saves the day as Kuzzie committed only one unforced error in the final set and went on to win the match. Hurray!

The other semi-final match between Kim and Justine Henin-Hardenne went pretty much the way I expected. I would love for Kim to win, but I kinda predicted the unlikelihood of it. But I had hoped for the match to be a closer fight and not for JHH to have won so easily. Anyways...

As for the final, again I'm rooting for Kuzzie, but playing against Justine, she's definitely the underdog. Against Justine, she's definitely gotta play much better than she did against Vaidisova, 'cos Justine's definitely not gonna lose her concentration like Vaidisova did.. she's not likely to give Kuzzie this luxury. Kuzzie's gotta play her very very best to win 'cos when Kuzzie does that, honestly, I believe she can just about beat anybody!

(Photo taken from AP Photo/Michel Spingler)

tags : tennis | Roland Garros 2006 | French Open | Venus Williams | Amelie Mauresmo | Svetlana Kuznetsova | Nicole Vaidisova | semi-final | Grand Slam | final | Kim Clijsters | Justine Henin-Hardenne |