Kuerten Took a Bumpier Road to Final

Gustavo Kuerten should have been on a plane home to Brazil at least twice in the last week. This year, he seems to have tapped into the Andre Agassi vintage of 1999 luck in Paris.

Agassi had three narrow escapes on his way to the French Open title. Already, the fifth-seeded Kuerten has had two close brushes with defeat before today’s final against Magnus Norman of Sweden. He was down two sets to one and a break in the fourth against Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia in the quarterfinals and Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain in the semifinals.

Yet, Kuerten and his ailing back live to play another day. Barely.

“I think I’m very strong now,” Kuerten said, smiling. “I’m going to be more stronger in the final.”

His opponent, the third-seeded Norman, has lost only one set this tournament, to Marat Safin in the quarterfinals. But Kuerten has the edge of having won a Grand Slam event, three years ago in Paris.

“This is maybe a small advantage for me,” he said. “But he [Norman] has been playing less than me. He’s more in shape and didn’t play as much.”

Norman and Kuerten have become used to each other this past month. They played in Rome and Hamburg during the clay-court season, with Norman winning in the Rome final and Kuerten in a Hamburg quarterfinal.

This will be their sixth meeting, and Kuerten leads the series, 3-2. They have each won two tournaments this year.

Norman, who will be playing in his first Grand Slam final, actually found more success on the tour when he started practicing less late last year.

“I wasn’t practicing almost anything,” he said. “I went to the bar, you know, had a beer. All of a sudden, I’m down in Australia playing the tennis of my life.

“Those weeks were important for me to get away from tennis. When I came down to Australia, I realized how much I missed the game.”

*

The men’s doubles final was Saturday and Aussies Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge won their 58th title, completing a career Grand Slam. They defeated Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands and Sandon Stolle of Australia, 7-6 (7), 6-4. They broke the record of 57 doubles titles, previously held by John McEnroe and Peter Fleming and Bob Hewitt and Frew McMillan. Woodforde is scheduled to retire at the end of this year.

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French Open

Men’s Final

* Who: Magnus Norman (3), Sweden, vs. Gustavo Kuerten (5), Brazil.

* When: 6 a.m. today

* TV: Channel 4

KUERTEN VS. NORMAN

Head-to-head record of French Open men’s finalists Gustavo Kuerten and Magnus Norman. Kuerten leads, 3-2 (Note: R32-Round of 32; R16-Round of 16; QF-Quarterfinal; F-Final):

1999

* Stuttgart Outdoor, clay, R32, Norman, 5-2, retired.

* Indianapolis, hard, R16, Kuerten, 6-4, 7-5.

* U.S. Open, hard, R16, Kuerten, 7-6 (4), retired.

2000

* Rome, clay, F, Norman, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

* Hamburg, clay, QF, Kuerten, 6-4, 6-2.