E-Paper
Russian friends become French Open contenders
Russia's Anastasia Myskina and Elena Dementieva must put their lifelong friendship to one side and go looking for the killer instinct instead, when they clash.
Russia's Anastasia Myskina and Elena Dementieva must put their lifelong friendship to one side and go looking for the killer instinct instead when they clash in the French Open final on Saturday.
The 22-year-old Muscovites met in the Russian capital when they were six, played at the same Spartak club, even shared the same coach and have spent the intervening years building up to this moment as they fight out their first ever Grand Slam final.
"We are pretty good friends, still - I hope," said Myskina, the older of the two by three months.
"I have known her all of my life. We have grown up together. We used to practice with the same coach, Marat Safin's mum (Rausa Islanova) and then played junior and team tennis together.
"We did everything together so we know each really well. I know her game, she knows mine so I think the person who wins is going to be the one who is mentally stronger."
Sixth seed Myskina reached the final, the first Grand Slam ever to feature two Russians, with a hugely impressive 6-2, 6-2 win over 2001 champion Jennifer Capriati after knocking out Venus Williams in the quarter-finals.
Dementieva, the ninth seed, made the final winning a desperately poor semi-final 6-0, 7-5 against Argentina's Paola Suarez but will approach the showdown with a degree of inside knowledge.
Her coach is Olga Morozova, only one of two Russian women to have made the final here in 107 years of Roland Garros.
She was a finalist in 1974 losing to Chris Evert while Natasha Zvereva also came up short being humiliated 6-0, 6-0 by Steffi Graf in 1988.
"I don't really see Olga that much," said Myskina.
"But she's great and has given Elena a lot of things. She has really improved her. She is an idol in Russia."
Dementieva joked that they would cancel the final here and play it in Moscow instead.
"Throughout our lives, we must have played each other 30 times and it's amazing that we are going to be playing the final. Maybe we will take the trophy home and play for it in Moscow."
Dementieva, with three career titles compared to Myskina's seven, was tipped for great things four years ago when she made the semi-finals of the US Open before going on to win a silver medal at the Sydney Olympics.
"That was an unbelievable year for me, so many good results. But I couldn't handle all of the pressure, people were expecting better results all the time and I couldn't play with this pressure," said the Russian who, with her impeccable French, has been taken to the hearts of the Paris crowd despite her quarter-final win against home favourite Amelie Mauresmo.
"I feel great every time I play here and now I feel that the right thing to do is go and win the title so the crowd won't be angry with me anymore for beating Amelie."
Dementieva's path to the final started with a tough three-set win over Bosnia's Mervana Jugic-Salkic and she was fortunate to get past Israel's Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi who was ahead in the final set of their third round clash before having to retire with leg cramps.
However, her last three matches were won in straight sets with a victory over Lindsay Davenport preceeding her success over Mauresmo.
Myskina has also faced stern tests losing the first set before winning her opener against Australia's Alicia Molik and also having to recover from a set down against compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round.
