|
|
|
| September 18, 2005 | Sunday | Sha'aban 13, 1426 |
Mauresmo victory makes it 1-1
PARIS, Sept 17: Amelie Mauresmo levelled for hosts France after Elena Dementieva had given holders Russia the first point of the Fed Cup final here on Saturday. Mauresmo defeated 2004 French Open champion Anastasia Myskina 6-4, 6-2 in 1hr 30min after Dementieva earlier battled past exhausted US Open Open finalist Mary Pierce 7-6 (7/1), 2-6, 6-1 in 2hr 15min on the red clay of Roland Garros.
Now tied 1-1, victory will go down to the wire in Sunday’s reverse singles and doubles where Mauresmo will play Dementieva and Pierce against Myskina. Mauresmo will then team up with Nathalie Dechy to play Vera Douchevina and Dinara Safina in the potentially crucial doubles.
Russia are looking to defend the title they won for the first time last year in Moscow at the expense of holders France - then missing Mauresmo and Pierce.
But Myskina looked a shadow of the player who became the first Russian to win a Grand Slam event here 15 months ago.
She could find no answer to world number four Mauresmo, looking an amatuer as she hit 40 unforced errors against the Frenchwoman who achieved her seventh win in eight meetings.
Myskina, ranked 13, was shocked by her performance.
Dementieva, meanwhile, admitted that she had been out to get her revenge on Pierce whom she accused of gamesmanship at the US Open semi-final.
With Dementieva well on top Pierce used up nearly 12 minutes at the changeover in Flushing Meadows to treat injuries to her thigh and back, and then went on to take control and reach her first US Open final.
Playing with her right thigh strapped, world number six Pierce, who lost the US Open final last weekend to Belgian Kim Clijsters, struggled under cloudy skies which threatened rain.
Dementieva, ranked eighth, got off to a bright start pushing Pierce who blew hot and cold, with the Frenchwoman coming back from 1-3 down to level 4-4 and force a tiebreak which the Russian won after 54 minutes on court.
As the sun came out Pierce’s fortunes looked to be on the up and she took the second set.
But Dementieva, 23, pushed hard in the decider racing to a 5-0 lead, before Pierce held serve only for the Russian to wrap it up on her first match point.
But Pierce, the only member of both France’s Fed Cup victories in 1997 and 2003, believes she will be ready to play Myskina Sunday.
At 30 years Pierce has found new form with two Grand Slam finals at Roland Garros and the US Open and she is looking to cap one of the best season’s of her career with the Fed Cup title.
Dementieva hopes she will have the psychological edge on Mauresmo.
Mauresmo leads 5-4 but Dementieva has won their last two ties, at the French Open and the US Open quarterfinals last year.—Agencies
|
|
|
|
