French delight for Costa

Albert Costa blew away fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero in four sets to taste victory in the French Open final in Paris.

After an attempted comeback by Ferrero in the third set, Costa took the fourth to win the title he has threatened to take for several seasons.

On an overcast day in the French capital, it was Costa who took emerged victorious over Ferrero, an unheralded but competent 26-year-old clay-court expert who was a losing finalist in the boys final at Roland Garros nine years ago.

The pair had only ever met on clay and this was their fifth head-to-head with their record previously standing at 2-2.

Costa though, came into the final with the slight advantage of having ousted Ferrero in the first round at Hamburg last month.

This was his first Grand Slam final, just as it was for Ferrero, who had been an unlucky loser in the semi-finals for the past two years.

Despite his status as 11th seed, Ferrero was the bookmakers’ pre-tournament favourite and had justified their belief in his ability with Andre Agassi and Marat Safin slain along the way.

Costa, the 20th seed, amazingly knocked out three-time champion Gustavo Kuerten in the fourth round and fought back from two sets to one down in the quarter-finals to oust Guillermo Canas before a four-set victory over twice finalist Alex Corretja earned him a final berth.

Light showers meant the court was playing awkwardly in the opening minutes of the match, with umbrellas up in the stands, and the players went off in the third game.

Costa led 30-0 on his serve at the resumption and held before breaking to go 3-1 ahead as Ferrero put in an erratic second service game.

Again he held and looked untroubled with a 4-1 lead, the type of start he would have dreamt of.

Ferrero looked nervous and fell love-40 down on his next service game. He fought back to 30-40, but a cross-court Costa forehand landed just inside the court and he led 5-1.

Ferrero was unable to cope with Costa’s positive approach and hard-hitting tactics, and was finding himself outclassed by a player supposedly his inferior.

Costa held with a deal of comfort to take the opening set 6-1 and was reaping the benefits of attacking inside the court while Ferrero was spending his match behind the baseline.

Costa took his imposing form into the second set, breaking the opening and third games to build a 4-0 lead.

Ferrero looked overwhelmed by the older man, as he repeatedly failed to deal with Costa’s service returns.

Keeping his compatriot on the backfoot, the Barcelona-based player forced Ferrero into an error at 40-30 in the sixth game to wrap up the second set at 6-0.

And Costa was a man in a hurry, as he took that set in 25 minutes to take a comprehensive lead in the match and go within a set of his first Grand Slam victory.