US Open, DAY 13

US Open champ Kuznetsova makes name for herself
Svetlana: 'I want success. I really want people to remember my name'

By Matthew Cronin, TennisReporters.net

Ron Cioffi/TR.net

The surprise US Open champion: Svetlana Kuznetsova.

FROM THE US OPEN – Elena Dementieva said it's a "miracle" that three Russians have won the last three Slams. US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova says that their it's due to their fierce intramural rivalries. If the Russian continue to stage their fierce backward brawls on the WTA Tour, they may be kicking all the other nations' girls out of the sandbox at by end of the decade.

With her courageous 6-3, 7-5 victory over Dementieva in the US Open final, the 19-year-old Kuznetsova joined Roland Garros champion Anastasia Myskina and Wimbledon titlist Maria Sharapova as ‘04 Russian Slam winners. The WTA might consider moving its Championships to Moscow this November because by the time the tour winds up in LA, there could very well be six Russian women in a pool of eight players.

"It's a miracle," Dementieva said of the Russian success.

Kuznetsova added that that it's the never-ending cat fight that took the choke out of the Russian this summer.

"It's the competition between us," the champion said. "Do you think I liked seeing Myskina win when I had match point against her [at Roland Garros]? I wanted to do the same thing. The same with Sharapova. I recently spoke to Vera Zvonareva, and she said, 'Now I'm ranked in the Top 10 and I fell like nothing because I'm six in Russia.' The thing for us is to be good in Russia. You want to be No. 1 in Russia."

Kuznetsova became No. 1 in New York by owning the court with her fearsome forehand and munching on Dementieva's second serves. With her heavy topspin forehand, she was able to take Dementieva's slow slice serves and whip them down the lines. She powered 34 winners to only seven from Dementieva, 23 from her forehand side.

"She played absolutely great today," said Dementieva. "She deserved to win. She has a powerful game and a great return. She put a lot of pressure on my serve and served well. There wasn't much I could do on court today. I did everything I could."

REMEMBER ANITA LIZANE?
Kuznetsova is without question the most surprising winner of the US Open in the Open era. In fact, gazing at the list of past winners, one could surely say that the ninth seed is the most surprising winner since Anita Lizane in 1937. Yes, that Anita Lizane.

Kuznetsova had shown a fair amount of potential the past two years, reaching the Doha and Dubai finals in February and scoring wins over Justine Henin-Hardenne and Venus Williams. She also won the Wimbledon warm-up at Eastbourne. But she came up far short in the majors, falling early in Australia, losing a tearjerker to Myskina at the French Open and being stunned in the first round of Wimbledon by Virginie Razzano. She had a mundane summer on hard courts and said she was overplaying. But in New York, she set her mind to carefully preparing for matches and found a new ability to close. She took down a number of strong women including Mary Pierce, Nadia Petrova, Lindsay Davenport and Dementieva, who had beaten her in Carson just six weeks ago.

Before she went on court, her former doubles partner, Martina Navratilova, calmed her down.

Ron Cioffi/TR.net

Dementieva is 0-2 in Slam finals this year.

"She looked at me and saw I was maybe the color green, or blue," Kuznetsova said. "She said, 'Remember, I won my first Grand Slam final and you can do it, too. … It's unbelievable."

After an terrible opening game where she was broken at love, Kuznetsova seized control of the match. She not only snacked on Dementieva's serves, but also served with variety and pace herself and whaled forehands until Elena's sore groin began to ache.

"I really need a better serve to win a Grand Slam," said Dementieva. "When somebody has a great return like Svetlana, I can't do anything."

DEMENTIEVA ADMITS SERVE NEEDS IMPROVEMENT
After Dementieva doubled faulted at 5-5 in the second set, Kuznetsova passed a tennis scholar's test, going with her strengths rather than pushing and winning the contest on a 96-mph second serve winner.

The one-time unknown daughter in a world class bicycling family had made even a bigger name for her well-known family internationally. Maybe not bigger than her dad's claim of coaching five Olympic champions, or her mother Galina's 20 world records, or brother Nikolai's Olympic silver medal, but certainly worthy of a place on the mantelpiece. Forget the US Open winner's million dollar check, in the Kuznetsov home in St. Petersburg, that US Open Silver Cup is what will be cherished. There, only winning attitudes are acceptable.

"If you don't believe you can win a tournament you shouldn't play," Kuznetsova said. "It depends on what you want to do with your life. Some players play tennis to earn money, some do it because their parents want them to, some do it just to do something in their life. I want success. I really want people to remember my name."