She was the only blemish in Dinara’s 20-1 record since her April 20 ascension to the world No.1 ranking, and on Saturday Svetlana Kuznetsova was a thorn in her side once more, except this time on a much, much bigger stage. Kuznetsova beat her Russian compatriot at Roland Garros in straight sets for her second Grand Slam singles title.
In Dinara’s first tournament as No.1 in late April, she made the final of Stuttgart, only to be dispatched in straight sets by Kuznetsova. She went on a tear from there, winning 16 straight matches - the longest winning streak on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour this year, and including a revenge win over Kuznetsova in the final of Rome. But their back-and-forth wouldn’t be over just yet.
Kuznetsova was building her own momentum at Roland Garros. She powered through her first three foes in straight sets then beat a trio of fellow seeds - Agnieszka Radwanska, Serena Williams and Samantha Stosur - in three sets, each time dropping the middle set before coming back to win the third.
In the final, a No.7-seeded Kuznetsova was just sharper than No.1 seed Dinara, who hit seven double faults and lost her serve six times. Kuznetsova was cool, calm and collected, and after a tight first set and tight start to the second set, she burned through four games in a row to complete a 64 62 title victory.
“I came on the court and just played the match. Whether it’s first or last match, I just do my best,” Kuznetsova said. “I definitely have a lot of emotions right now but I’m controlling them. But the most important thing happened - I finally won here. My favorite tournaments are the US Open and here. It’s very big for me.”
Kuznetsova’s first Grand Slam singles title came at the US Open in 2004. She also has runner-up finishes here in 2006 and at the US Open in 2007, both to the now-retired Justine Henin. Her win over Dinara in the final was her sixth career win over a No.1, having done it twice over Amélie Mauresmo, twice over Henin and now twice over Dinara.
“I put so much pressure on myself because I really wanted to win. And I just didn’t handle it,” said Dinara, now 0-3 in Grand Slam singles finals. “I was a little desperate on the court. I didn’t do the things I needed to do. I didn’t stay tough mentally. Against Sveta you need to be aggressive but I was passive. I lost myself. But there are so many matches in life. This was just a bad match.”
“She’s an amazing athlete. She works very hard. One day she’ll make it here,” Kuznetsova said of Dinara. “I respect her a lot. But she plays with too much pressure. I play just to have fun and enjoy it. It was the same when I went on court at the US Open. I thought, ‘Everything’s great. I’m doing the thing I love. It’s my passion. It’s my job. This is it.’”
Russia truly began its domination of women’s tennis in 2004, when three of the four major titles went to Russians, and two had all-Russian finals (Anastasia Myskina beat Elena Dementieva at the French Open and Kuznetsova beat Dementieva at the US Open). This was the third all-Russian Grand Slam final.
A year after knocking off Dinara in the final of the Ordina Open, Tamarine Tanasugarn did it again Friday, this time in the semis, 75 75. The Thai, who has won two Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles titles, came back from 4-2 down in the second set to win, raising her record against the top-seeded Russian to 2-1. She would go on to beat Yanina Wickmayer in the final on Saturday.
