Tennis world en n 49 Tennis World issue 49 | Page 39

2000 Patrick Rafter in the final, both players
were equally tested as the match went to a
deciding set and a sudden death when
Ivanisevic finally captured the victory and
became the only wildcard male player to win
a Grand Slam.
Gaston Gaudio, 2004 French Open
Ranked No.44 on the ATP Charts, Gaston
Gaudio sailed across to the final, after
sealing victories against Guillermo Canas,
Jiri Novak, Thomas Enqvist, Gustavo
Kuerten and David Nalbandian, to set up the
one and only (till date) all-Argentine Grand
Slam final against Guillermo Coria.
Coria thrashed Gaudio in the first two sets
6-0, 6-3 and was looking to finally conquer
his French Open title but Gaudio fought back
and won the next three sets to win the match
but not before saving match points. This win
brought Gaudio into the Top 10 of the ATP
rankings.
Serena Williams, 2007 Australian Open
After battling with severe injuries and
depression in 2006, which resulted in falling
out of the WTA Top 100 rankings, Serena
Williams started her campaign at the
Australian Open ranked No.81 in the World.
Cruising through her previous round
matches, Serena faced a familiar foe in the
finals when Russian Maria Sharapova was
on the other side of the net.
This match was way too one-sided as
Serena dropped only three games in
demolishing the Russian 6-1, 6-2 to win her
third Australian Open and eighth Grand
Slam title.