Kuerten cleans up

Kuerten cleans up with his second French Open victory

Gustavo Kuerten returned to the scene of his greatest triumph to claim his second French Open title on Sunday.

His epic four-set defeat of Swede Magnus Norman gave him his second Grand Slam title, three years after he beat Sergi Brugera on the red clay courts of Roland Garros.

The 23-year-old's win helps to dispel notions that he would never claim another Grand Slam title, but without a hard court title to his name, doubts persist about his all-round ability.

Kuerten has been concentrating on improving his game on the hard courts and harbours a desire to claim a title on the surface.

Grand Slam best

French Open: Champion 1997, 2000

Wimbledon: Quarter-finals 1999

US Open: Quarter-finals 1999

Australian Open: Second round 1997, 1998, 1999

One of his ambitions was to win a second Grand Slam event, and now, having achieved that goal it should not be too far away from hard court success.

This was evidenced by his form on the hard courts of Miami in March.

French success: Kuerten lifts the trophy in 1997

He swept past Goran Ivanisevic, South Africa's Wayne Ferreira and Andre Agassi en route to the final where he lost in four sets (three of which were tie-breaks) to Pete Sampras.

He has an effective service return, bringing the slice into his game and while his forehand is his favourite shot he is equally adept on the backhand side.

In recent seasons the serve has also become one of his best weapons and in 1999 he was ranked number six in the aces list, having hit 606 of them along the season.

Tour record

ATP singles: 8 titles

ATP doubles: 7 titles

The shaggy-haired Brazilian with the amiable smile turned professional in 1995 and a 19-year-old and almost immediately began to make his name. Not that he goes by the name Gustavo, he prefers the moniker Guga.

His first singles title was the 1997 triumph at Roland Garros, but he first tasted success in the doubles on the clay courts of Santiago the previous year.

Away from the court the 23-year-old takes to the waves on his surfboard on Brava Beach and supporting his soccer team - Avai.

Kuerten's Wimbledon best is the quarter-finals

The criticism of the affable Kuerten was that he did not have the mental toughness to succeed in the tight matches, but his defeat of Norman showed he was capable of pulling through in the crunch matches.

He cites Stefan Edberg as a role model and it is evident he has borrowed some of the Swede's steely determination.

Aside from his two Grand Slam wins, he has won on the clay courts of Stuttgart, Mallorca, Monte Carlo, Rome and this year at both Santiago and Hamburg.

Kuerten's win against Norman avenged a four-set defeat at the hands of the Swede in the final of the Italian Open in May.

It may only be a matter of time before he adds a hard court title to his achievements.