Clement Will Pose No Small Feat

Occasionally, the overwhelming semifinal silence was punctured by a distinct Australian voice, urging, “Come on, Arnie.”

And so, Arnaud Clement, born in Aix-en-Provence, France, and now living in Geneva, Switzerland, received the highest compliment. He earned a nickname after saving two match points, rallying from a two-set deficit against countryman Sebastien Grosjean at the Australian Open on Friday.

The 15th-seeded Clement earned a spot in his first Grand Slam final, defeating No. 16 Grosjean, 5-7, 2-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5, 6-2, in 4 hours 8 minutes. It was the longest singles match at this year’s tournament. If Clement had gone much longer, they would have started calling him Arno around here and made him a citizen.

Now, it’s 23-year-old Arnie vs. 30-year-old Andre in Sunday’s Australian Open men’s final.

Andre Agassi goes back a little longer with Clement, having known him before he became Arnie. They’ve played four times and are 2-2. The first time was especially memorable, at the French Open in 1999. Clement was two points from a second-round victory in the fourth set, leading 5-4, 30-0, before he began cramping.

“I was already seeing myself raising my hands,” he said afterward.

Clement did not win another game. Agassi survived and went on to win the championship, as the old Andre became the new Andre. Since then, Agassi has won two more Grand Slam titles, the 1999 U.S. Open and 2000 Australian Open.

The shattering defeat was a learning experience for Clement. He was ranked No. 82 then and has continued to improve, breaking into the top 20 by the end of 2000. Last year, Clement had his best Grand Slam finish, losing in the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open. Earlier, he caused the biggest stir of the event in the second round with a straight-set dismissal of a listless Agassi, who was struggling with a family crisis.

Clement caught Agassi again under tough conditions, defeating him in the semifinals at Lyon in November when Agassi retired because of a hip injury. In the final, Clement defeated Patrick Rafter to win his first ATP title.

“Clement is pretty dangerous off both sides,” Agassi said. “He can hit the backhand as well as the forehand.”

Agassi spoke about the speed of both Clement and Grosjean. He said they went beyond the mold of a Michael Chang counterpuncher. Clement is 5-9, and Grosjean is 5-8. Martina Hingis jokingly called herself Snow White at this event, and, if that’s the case, maybe Clement and Grosjean are two of the seven dwarfs.

They might be small, but . . .

“Don’t underestimate the power that they have too,” Agassi said. “They have good power too. Chang was maybe the best counterpuncher I’ve ever played against. But Grosjean and Clement can take good offense.”

Grosjean displayed his power, serving 20 aces, 12 of them in the first three sets. Clement needed longer to get going after a flat start. The close friends and doubles partners looked as though they were having a practice session on an outside court for the first two sets.

The theatrical Clement became energized when he was almost done. In the ninth game of the third set, he saved one match point with a forehand winner. One game later, Clement escaped with a backhand volley winner on the second match point.

An unnerved Grosjean never was quite the same and about an hour and a half later, Clement had reached the final. He is the first Frenchman to reach the final here since Jean Borotra won it in 1928.

There was no celebration, no striptease, as there was against Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Friendship took precedence.

“A small miracle,” Clement said. “‘The more the match progressed, the better I felt. Even though it was four hours, I wasn’t too worried about it. When Sebastien shook hands, he just said to me, ‘Go ahead and do your best, go to the end.’ ”

Said Grosjean, who converted only six of 20 break points, “He came back and he’s starting to feel he can win. He played better and better.”

Having played Agassi twice at Grand Slam events, Clement is not intimidated.

“Depends how fit Andre really is himself,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m fairly confident against him.”

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Head to Head

Australian Open finalists Andre Agassi (6) and Arnaud Clement (15) have split their four previous matches:

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Year Tournament Surface Round Result 1999 French Open Clay Round 2 Agassi, 6-2, 4-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-0 1999 U.S. Open Hardcourt Round 4 Agassi, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 2000 U.S. Open Hardcourt Round 2 Clement, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 2000 Lyon Carpet Semifinals Clement, 6-3, retired

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