A fortnight till the French :o)
Now, the whole fortnight has been pretty interesting from a fan's perspective, and even more exciting is the conclusion of this fortnight. How true is that of the Italian Open!! We've seen all five current teenage prodigies (all the highly publicised, up-and-coming girls of the game - with the exception of Martina Hingis who has already upped-and-come), reach the quarterfinal stage! Yep, Swiss Miss Martina Hingis, American sisters Venus and Serena Williams, Russian starlet Anna Kournikova and Croatian star Mirjana Lucic, 16/17 year olds, have cemented their position in the current field with this amazing result, and have also cemented their position in the future of tennis. Along the way, the teenage bandwagon have caused several upsets, notably Serena's second-round defeat of 11th seed Frenchwoman Nathalie Tauziat 7-5 6-0 and third-round defeat of four-time Italian Open champ 7th seed Conchita Martinez 6-2 6-2. Also, Mirjana Lucic caused the biggest upset of the tournament over defending Italian Open champ 4th seed Mary Pierce 7-5 6-4. Anna Kournikova also recorded a victory in three sets over the 1997 French Open winner 8th seed Iva Majoli 6-3 3-6 6-2.
Meanwhile, upon reaching the semi-final stage, the teenagers have had to crush some of their own, notably Venus' domination over sister Serena with a 6-4 6-2 win and Martina Hingis' perfect record over Anna Kournikova being as of yet untarnished (4-0) with a 6-2 6-4 win. And so it stood at the semi-final stage: 1-Martina Hingis vs Mirjana Lucic and 9-Venus Williams vs 5-Arantxa Sanchez Vicario. With considerable ease and considerable expectation, Martina Hingis defeated good friend and sometimes double partner (they did win the Australian Open doubles title together J), Mirjana Lucic 6-2 6-3, while Venus needed a little bit more to avenge her loss at the Sydney International final earlier this year, taking her opponent to three sets. So, at the final stood the two teenage prodigies, both from very different backgrounds, yet the two most successful players on the tour this season, battling head to head once again - Martina with a 4-2 edge over Venus, yet Venus with a 2-1 edge over Martina this year. Who was it to be? Could we ever doubt Martina's dominance? With strong determination to win the clay court major, she proved that it was hers and only hers for the taking with a 6-3 2-6 6-3 win over biggest rival Venus Williams of USA, capturing her
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