Paris, June 07: Unheralded Dutchman Martin Verkerk, ranked 46 in the world, is the 11th unseeded player to reach the men's French Open final, where he faces Spanish third seed Juan Carlos Ferrero on Sunday.

The last unseeded men's finalist was Ukraine's Andrei Medvedev, who bowed to Andre Agassi of the United States in 1999.
Unseeded winners included Frenchman Marcel Bernard (1946), Swede Mats Wilander (1982) and Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten in 1997.
Verkerk, a 24-year-old who won his first title at Milan in February, is only the third Dutchman to reach a grand slam final with Tom Okker having been 1968 US Open runner-up.
He is also only the third player to make the final in Paris in the Open era - going back to 1968 - in his first appearance at the tournament.



Wilander performed the feat in 1982, as did fellow Swede Mikael Pernfors in 1986. Wilander won the event in beating Argentina's Guillermo Vilas.



The 24-year-old Verkerk saved three match points in his second-round match with Peruvian Luis Horna and was then two points from defeat in the quarters against Spanish former champion Carlos Moya.



Since 1925, when the old French National Championships became the French Open, only five men have won the title after surviving match points against them.



Rene Lacoste of France did so in 1927, German Gottfried Von Cramm also did so in 1934, as did Australia's Rod Laver (1962), Italy's Adriano Panatta (1976) and Brazilian Kuerten in 2001.


Bureau Report