Splendid Doubles Duo Racks Up Another Title

Natasha Zvereva and Gigi Fernandez teamed to win their fourth consecutive French Open women’s doubles title as they beat their top rivals, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Jana Novotna on Sunday.

Zvereva and Fernandez took their 10th Grand Slam title over the last three years with a 6-7 (8-6), 6-4, 7-5 victory over the No. 1 seeds.

They have won three of the four Grand slam titles in 1992, 1993 and 1994. But they lost the last two Grand Slams as Novotna and Sanchez Vicario won at the Australian Open and last year’s U.S. Open.

Zvereva now has appeared in seven straight French Open doubles finals and made the singles final in 1988. In all, Zvereva has won 13 Grand Slam double titles, 10 with Fernandez and three previously with Larisa Neiland.

It was a double dose of defeat for Sanchez Vicario, who also lost the singles final Saturday to Steffi Graf.

Entering the tournament she was ranked No. 1 in both singles and doubles. She will lose the No. 1 ranking in singles but will remain No. 1 in doubles.

Suffering from a stomach virus, Sanchez Vicario was forced to forfeit in the mixed doubles to cut down her work load and physical effort.

French pride

After most French players once again disappointed the home crowd, 17-year-old Amelie Cocheteux has offered hope for the future of the host country’s tennis.

She defeated Germany’s Marlene Weingartner 7-5, 6-4 in the final of the junior girl’s singles, becoming the first French female to win the junior tournament at Roland Garros since Julie Halard in 1988.

Following the elimination of 16 of 17 men in the first two rounds, and the exit of last year’s finalist Mary Pierce in the women’s fourth round, there were critics of French tennis.

It took a junior player for France to save face.

Seemingly unfazed by her achievement, Cocheteux admitted she was not surprised by her victory.

“I deserved to win,” she said. “My level of play increased as I went on and I did really well in the final.

“It was tight at times but I played well when I needed to. I really needed to win this tournament … it’ll be great for my career.”

She plans to celebrate in true French fashion. “I think I might go have some champagne,” she said.

Cocheteux plans to try to make the top 100 on the WTA tour by playing satellite and tournament qualifications in the United States this summer as well as going to Nick Bollittieri’s tennis academy for a week.

In other junior finals action, Mariano Zabaleta claimed the boys singles title, defeating Mariano Puerta, 6-2, 6-3, in an all-Argentine final.

Record numbers

After the first week in which records were set nearly every day, the overall attendance figure was up compared to the last year. A total of 362,425 attended the 14 sessions compared to 352,699 in 1994.