Qualifiers: Baltacha bows to resurgent Shvedova

Britain’s Elena Baltacha was powerless to prevent Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova from securing a place in the main draw of Roland Garros 2009. The 6-2 6-2 scoreline is further proof of a return to form for Shvedova, who was twice a junior finalist here in Paris and lived in the city for two years as a child. Shvedova first qualified for the main draw in 2007 and the significance of her repeat performance was evident for all to see in her beaming post-match smile. Steelier temperament "I’m reproducing the form I’ve been showing in practice. Since I qualified for Rome I’ve been feeling just great and playing without pressure. To top it all, I’m learning to enjoy the clay," said the player who is currently ranked No96 in the world. "She has changed her attitude along with her game. Provided she manages to keep on playing freely, she’ll get there," commented Tomasz Iwanski, who has been her coach since last November. Iwanski doubles up as Kazakhstan’s Fed Cup captain when not accompanying Shvedova on tour and describes his protegee as "ambitious". Such confidence is far from unfounded if today’s performance is anything to go by... Messages of support “Ambitious” could also be used to describe Yaroslava’s decision to change nationalities last August. "She wanted to play in a national team, and that would have been difficult in Russia," says Iwanski. "It was also the chance to play in the Olympic Games," adds Yaroslava, who shows her affection for her adopted nation by proudly wearing a green and yellow bracelet on her left wrist. "I live in Moscow but I often go to Kazakhstan because I feel good there and the conditions are excellent. The people like me and I get lots of encouragement on Facebook. I’ve got many friends there, "she explains fondly. Other potential stars of tomorrow have earned their place in the final draw, with no fewer than seven of the 12 qualifiers aged under 20: Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova and Italy’s Corinna Dentoni are 19, Polona Hercog (Slovenia), Arantxa Rus (Holland), Petra Martic (Croatia) and Vitalia Diatchenko (Russia) are 18, while the youngest of them all, Portugal’s Michelle Larcher de Brito, is just 16. French fall at final hurdle On the men’s side, the top seeds were in control, with 12 of them, including the top four – Italy’s Fabio Fognini, Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer, Brazilian Marcos Daniel and Romanian Victor Crivoi, all getting through. The French camp did not fare as well, with all five players who had made it through to the last round of qualifiers falling at the final hurdle. Sebastien de Chaunac was involved in a titanic struggle against the No20 seed, Germany’s Daniel Brands, but went down 7-6, 6-7, 10-8 after 3 hours 57 minutes of play, squandering two match points in the process.