Anastasia Myskina and Elena Dementieva's achievement to set up the first all-Russian Grand Slam final at the French Open was hailed as "a great victory for all of Russian sport" by the country's tennis chief on Thursday.
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"Their win is not only a great victory for Russian tennis but all of Russian sport," Shamil Tarpishchev, president of the Russian Tennis Federation and also coach of the country's Davis and Fed Cup teams, said on Thursday.
"This is a truly historic day for Russian tennis, in Paris once again," said Tarpishchev, referring to Russia's first Davis Cup title following their dramatic 3-2 win over holders France in the final in December 2002.
"Paris truly has been a lucky city for us and it's great to see our girls triumph there again," he added.
"What is especially gratifying for me was the fact that both played their best tennis. Myskina was tactically superior than Capriati while Dementieva was just a class above Suarez."
Paris's Roland Garros was also the place where Yevgeny Kafelnikov became the first Russian to win a Grand Slam when he lifted the French Open crown in 1996.
Russian women have been threatening for several years to dominate the world game and, at this year's French Open, they finally made their major breakthrough.
"I have been saying it (that Russians would dominate tennis) for a long time," Tarpishchev said. "But to be totally honest, even I did not expect such great success so soon. I thought it would come next year, but we'll take it of course.
"This is only the beginning, the first wave," he added of Russia's playing depth.
"We have the next wave ready to take over the women's game, players like (Maria) Sharapova, (Svetlana) Kuznetsova, (Vera) Zvonareva, (Nadia) Petrova, (Dinara) Safina, you name it...
"We have also even younger players that no one knows just yet, but in a year or two they'll be just as powerful and successful as the ones you know.
"Every other top tennis nation is afraid of us, afraid of Russians taking over the game.
"There's no stopping us now."
