It was a tender and touching moment when Russian Elena Dementieva, fresh off her second Grand Slam finals loss of the season, asked the New York City crowd to pause for a moment of silence in memory of the September 11 terrorist attacks and the horrible killing of schoolchildren back home.

“I want you guys to do everything possible to stay together and battle terrorism and have a moment of silence one more time,” she said.

Moments later, the new U.S. Open champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova, seconded the gesture. And so it was that the post-match speeches, so often filled with overcooked phrases about giving one’s all or never quitting, were better than the match itself.

In junior tennis, there’s a simple practice drill in which two players start a rally, then hit the ball right back to each other three, four, or five times before open season is declared. Kuznetsova’s victory over Dementieva had the look of this drill, repeated time and again for a little more than an hour. When they were done, Kuznetsova, 19, proved more adept at blasting winners, winning 6-3, 7-5.

For sure, this Grand Slam final showcased better tennis than the previous all-Russian final, when Anastasia Myskina defeated Dementieva in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2 in the French Open as the 22-year-old cracked under pressure and double-faulted 10 times.

Yet just like the French Open, the story in Flushing looked better on paper than it did on the court. Two Russian women were playing each other in a Grand Slam final for the second time in a year – and just the second time ever – proving that their country was now the cream of the crop in women’s tennis. One was short with the legs of her cycling-champion mother, the other tall and powerful and looking to conquer the nerves that hurt her in Paris.

The characters were there, the moment ripe, the audience packed in tight and waiting. Then the performance between the lines failed to deliver.

No one predicted Kuznetsova and Dementieva as the Russians who would go this far at the Open, and it’s unlikely that either of them will continue to attract the headlines of Myskina, with her linguistic exuberance, or Maria Sharapova, the Wimbledon champion with cover-girl looks. But no matter which Russian you prefer, it seems that it’s best to keep them away from each other in finals because they all play the same way: stand at the baseline and slug groundstroke hard, harder, and hardest. In their two home-and-home Grand Slam finals this year, the contests have looked more like extended practice sessions than a game that involves any strategy whatsoever.

At the Open, the Russians produced dramatic matches when they faced players who mix up their shots or scramble around the court – Amelie Mauresmo, Jennifer Capriati, Lindsay Davenport, Mary Pierce. Against each other – Kuznetsova vs. Nadia Petrova, Dementieva vs. Vera Zvonereva, and the final – the affairs were sleepier, even if the scores were close. Dementieva herself said she didn’t want to meet another Russian in the final. “I like this American-Russian fight,” she said. “It’s more interesting.”

Kuznetsova is a more complete player than Dementieva, and she has some ability at the net, which she showed in the final mostly when she was drawn in by a short ball (she also lost in the doubles final yesterday). Still, against Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals, she only approached three times in three sets. Perhaps Martina Navratilova, who has been a mentor, can convince Kuznetsova that her quick strokes and deadly forehand might allow her to play a little more like the other tiny woman at the top of the tour, Justine Henin-Hardenne.

Dementieva, on the other hand, is one of those players whose style on the court is entirely mismatched with her body. She stands 5-feet-11 and weighs 141 pounds, and ought to have a booming serve and an attacking game to go with her incredible forehand. Instead, she throws all her weight sideways when she serves and spins the ball into the court at 60 to 70 mphs. After the first set Saturday, Dementieva had put 88% of her first serves in play but had been broken twice. For the match, she got up to net five times.

“That was something that I really didn’t like to practice,” Dementieva said about her serve afterwards. “I don’t like to start with the serve. That’s what I have to change in my mind. I have to really like it, you know. I have to love it. Then I’m going to have a good one.”

Let’s wish her luck, along with the rest of the Russians as they take aim at the top of tennis. And let’s hope that the next time one of them arrives at a Grand Slam final, there’s a different nationality across the net.