Nadal shatters Federer's Roland Garros dream
 Spain's
Rafael Nadal and Belgium's Justine Henin-Hardenne reigned
supreme in the Parisian heat over the weekend, completing
successful title defences to lift the Roland Garros singles
trophies for a second consecutive year. It was the first time
there had been repeat champions in both singles events at
Roland Garros since 1992 (Jim Courier and Monica Seles), and
the first time at any Grand Slam tournament since the 1996
US Open (Steffi Graf and Pete Sampras).
Victory for Nadal in the men's final ended world No. 1 Roger
Federer?s hopes of becoming only the third man in history
to hold all four major titles at the same time, and the sixth
man to win all four Grand Slams during his career. It also
snapped his run of seven straight victories in Grand Slam
finals. In the first Roland Garros men's final for 22 years
to feature the No.1 and No. 2 seed, Nadal recovered from a
bad start to defeat Federer 16 61 64 76(4). The win was the
Spaniard's 60th consecutive on clay and improved his Roland
Garros record to 14-0; Nadal is the first man to defend his
title at Roland Garros since Gustavo Kuerten in 2001.
Henin-Hardenne, seeded No. 5 and appearing in her second
Grand Slam final of 2006, defeated 2004 US Open champion and
No. 8 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 64 64 to become the first woman
to defend at Roland Garros since Graf in 1996, and the sixth
in the Open Era to win there three or more times (Henin-Hardenne
won in 2003 as well as last year). The Belgian also became
the first woman to win the title in Paris without losing a
set since Arantxa Sanchez- Vicario in 1994. Henin-Hardenne
now owns five Grand Slam titles, and in her sights now is
Wimbledon, the only major title she has yet to collect.
There was further success for defending champions in the
men's doubles, as Jonas Bjorkman (SWE) and Max Mirnyi (BLR)
claimed the title for the second year running. In a repeat
of last year?s final, Bjorkman and Mirnyi won a close match
against Bob and Mike Bryan 67(5) 64 75 to win their second
Grand Slam title as a partnership. The Bryans made a bit of
history of their own, becoming the first male pair in the
Open Era to reach six successive Grand Slam finals.
Top seeds and ITF World Champions Lisa Raymond and Samantha
Stosur took the honours In the women?s doubles, with a 63
62 win over Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) and Ai Sugiyama (JPN)
in the final. It was the US-Aussie duo?s second Grand Slam
title and third appearance in a Grand Slam final since teaming
up in summer 2005. In the mixed doubles, Katarina Srebotnik
(SLO) and Nenad Zimonjic (SCG) took their first title as a
team, defeating Elena Likovtseva (RUS) and Daniel Nestor (CAN)
63 64 in the final.
|
