ESPN.com - French Open 2002 - Two Spaniards ruling in France
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Thursday, July 17
Two Spaniards ruling in France

PARIS -- Albert Costa beat Alex Corretja, and Juan Carlos Ferrero rolled over Marat Safin on Friday, creating an all-Spanish final at the French Open.

Costa defeated his good friend and soon-to-be best man Alex Corretja 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. And Ferrero, a semifinal loser the previous two years at Roland Garros, had little problem with the second-seeded Safin, winning 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in just over two hours.

It is the first Grand Slam final for both Costa and Ferrero.

Safin, who has made the semifinals of the last three Grand Slams, sprayed 78 unforced errors around center court while facing the consistent groundstrokes of Ferrero, who eliminated Andre Agassi in the quarterfinals.

Safin tried to keep his temper in check but when he missed a drop shot to fall behind in the final game, he threw his racket in the air and let out a scream.

Ferrero made just 44 unforced errors.

Earlier, Costa stumbled and fell at midcourt as he raced for a Corretja backhand that carried wide on match point.

Covered in red clay, he got up and went to the net to hug Corretja, pounding his fellow Spaniard on the back at the end of a 3-hour, 10-minute match.

"In tennis this is the greatest moment I've ever had, for sure,'' Costa said.

"You know that you're playing against a friend. You can't forget anything like this. Since we're so used to training against each other and playing each other and we scream and throw our rackets around, we are very emotional about tennis.

"Reaching the semifinals in Roland Garros, you try to play in a cooler way. You try to be under less stress.''

Corretja, a finalist at Roland Garros last year and in 1998, won the first two games of the match but then Costa reeled off six of the next seven to win the first set in a battle of baseliners.

Costa appeared on his way to an easy win before Corretja rebounded to win five straight games and take the third. Costa regrouped in the fourth when Corretja took a nasty spill lunging for a volley, cutting the knuckle of his right hand.

"It was not an excuse,'' Corretja said of his fall. "I do recognize that it came at the wrong time.''

Costa won six of the next seven points to take a 3-0 lead, squandered two match points on Corretja's serve in the eighth game and then saved four break points to serve out the biggest victory of his career. Corretja made 90 unforced errors to 75 for Costa.

"The fact he's a good friend didn't really matter. That's not the reason I lost,'' Corretja said.

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Kirkpatrick: The survivor

Washington: It's Ferrero's time

Agassi ousted by Ferrero in French quarterfinals



Audio/Video
 
Video
 French Open
Albert Costa defeats his good friend and soon-to-be best man Alex Corretja 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
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 French Open
Juan Carlos Ferrero sets up an all-Spanish final by defeating Marat Safin 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
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