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Amelie
Mauresmo fought back from a set and a break down to win
her second consecutive Rome Masters title by beating
eighth seed Patty Schnyder 2-6 6-3 6-4 on Sunday.
It was a well-deserved victory for
the 25-year-old Frenchwoman, who became the first champion
to successfully defend the title since Conchita Martinez
in 1996.
"I'm very proud of doing that
because it's a big tournament and a very strong draw and I
came here not really having a good rhythm on the clay
courts," said Mauresmo, who fell at the quarter-final
stage of last week's claycourt event in Berlin.
She will now try to carry her form
into the French Open, which starts on May 23.
Mauresmo has often let the pressure
of being the home favourite get to her in Paris, where she
has never progressed beyond the quarter-finals, but she
could not resist looking forward to the grand slam event.
"If I play like this, I'll have a
good chance," she said. "I came here relaxed and now here
I am with the trophy on the last day. Maybe I should do
that everywhere I go."
Mauresmo's impressive record in Rome
meant she went into the final as favourite.
The Frenchwoman was contesting her
fifth final in six years, while Schnyder's best previous
result had been a semi-final back in 1997.
Mauresmo had also won six of their
last eight meetings, though the left-handed Schnyder had
been in superb form all week, shattering Maria Sharapova's
hopes of claiming the world number one spot when she
defeated her in the semi-finals.
From the start Schnyder used the
same tactic that had worked so effectively against the
Russian, varying the pace and spin on her shots, making it
difficult for her opponent to settle.
Mauresmo's usually reliable
groundstrokes flew long and wide, allowing the Swiss to
break in the third and seventh games and claim the first
set.
"I started the match so badly, I
didn't know what I had to do to come back," admitted the
second seed.
"I wasn't moving well and I was
making too many mistakes early in the points.
"She was playing really well,
putting different kinds of spin and slice on the ball. I
wasn't expecting her to play that kind of game."
The second set went with serve until
the fifth game, when Mauresmo netted the simplest of
volleys to give Schnyder a breakpoint, which she converted
with a great wrong-footing pass.
Gradually, however, Mauresmo hauled
herself back into contention, hitting aggressively to pull
back the break.
A bad-tempered discussion with
umpire Romano Grillotti over whether a Schnyder first
serve had landed wide failed to halt her new-found
momentum and she fired a forehand down the line on the way
to breaking for a 5-3 lead to level the match.
Mauresmo finally seized control of
the contest in the fifth game of the decider.
At 0-40 down, Schnyder pulled out
three deep first serves to haul herself to deuce, but
could not fend off the fourth break point as her opponent
whipped a serve return down the line.
The second seed then served out to
win.
"In the end she was too strong,"
admitted Schnyder, who consoled herself with fact that her
run in Rome plus a semi-final in last week's claycourt
event in Berlin had lifted her back into the world's top
10 for the first time since 1999.
"She was running well and keeping me
off the baseline with her groundstrokes. She deserved to
win. I hope she does well in the French." |
