Final Effort of Kuerten Gets Him to the Final

The first meeting between Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil and Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain started off almost routinely--even a little dull, perhaps. They got acquainted, settled in and, after three hours, their French Open semifinal Friday had turned into an exquisite test of will and skill.

Ferrero, 20, was two games away in the fourth set from reaching the final on his very first attempt. Kuerten, who needed assistance from the trainer for his sore back and ailing leg in the fourth, summoned one more miraculous comeback in Paris, beating Ferrero, 7-5, 4-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, in 3 hours 38 minutes.

“Today is a match I consider a final for me. It’s a great feeling to be there and I’m sure I’m going to have the same feeling on Sunday,” said a relieved Kuerten, who will play third-seeded Magnus Norman of Sweden. Norman defeated unseeded Franco Squillari of Argentina, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3, in the earlier semifinal.

Kuerten, who is seeded fifth, thought his experience winning the French Open in 1997 may have been the final difference. Last year, Ferrero was playing on the satellite circuit and this was only his third main draw appearance in a Grand Slam event.

Said Ferrero, seeded 16th: “I was seeing the victory, but it escaped me. It hurts.”

Kuerten had the advantage of a bigger serve. He had 17 aces to Ferrero’s five. But Ferrero, the youngest of the promising Spaniards, was particularly effective with his forehand, hitting 31 winners to Kuerten’s 15.

The Spanish youngster was up a break, 3-1, in the fourth on Kuerten, almost the same way Yevgeny Kafelnikov was against Kuerten in the quarterfinals. Kuerten held serve and then had his back worked on during the changeover. He came out and broke Ferrero at 15.

“He missed one ball, maybe a half-centimeter and 30-15 changed to 15-30,” Kuerten said of Ferrero’s wide forehand at 15-15. “I played well, a drop shot and won a big point. That can change a match.”

Little came easily for Kuerten once he scrambled back into it. Later, he needed four set points to break Ferrero’s serve to take the fourth set, 6-4. But Ferrero did not start looking downcast until the fifth set, when Kuerten broke him at love to take a 4-2 lead.

“I think we played one of the best matches here,” Kuerten said. “The crowd was so into it. In the fifth set, even I was so excited. I was so pumped up. That’s the feeling we always try to pass along on court.”

Even though Ferrero was hitting the lines, hitting winners, Kuerten believed he would get his chance, saying: “I was waiting for my chances, believing in my game.”

Ferrero reminded many observers of a young Mats Wilander. He stayed calm under difficult conditions, performing impressively in victories against Mark Philippoussis and Alex Corretja here. His racket speed is especially swift, in particular, on the forehand side.

“He’s going to be here for many more years,” Kuerten said. “It’s not like he lost his chance and is not going to have any other.

“He pushed me close to my limit. I had to do everything right to beat him.”

In contrast, Norman did not have to play at his peak to win his semifinal.

“Today the conditions were not favorable,” Squillari said. “I had problems concentrating. The ball was moving in [its] trajectory. I had rather to fight against myself than against Norman.”

Norman, who will be in his first Grand Slam final, was not overwhelmed the way he was in the semifinals at the Australian Open, losing to Kafelnikov, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.

“Down in Australia, things got a little bit too big to me,” Norman said. “I said to myself, ‘I’ve been here before. This is my day. I’m going to do everything I can to be in the finals.’ ”