Mauresmo Too Powerful for Suarez
Mauresmo Too Powerful for Suarez
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
The fourth seed Amelie Mauresmo produced a confident performance to sweep to
the last four of the ladies' singles after defeating the ninth seed, Paola
Suarez, 6-0, 5-7, 6-1. She will now meet defending champion Serena Williams
in the semi-finals.
This was a elegant display from the Frenchwoman, who has looked more and more
assured with every round. If Mauresmo has suffered from trying to fulfil the
expectations of an adoring French public at Roland Garros in recent years,
the green courts of Wimbledon are probably more responsive to her style.
In contrast to Suarez, who hugged the back of the court for nearly all the
match, Mauresmo was emphatic in mixing up baseline shots with a highly
effective serve and volley game. Indeed, Mauresmo's serve was too much for
Suarez - she aced the Argentine eight times and had 26 unreturned serves.
But the serve was just one weapon in the fourth seed's armoury. Although
Mauresmo stands only 5ft 9in, she dwarfed the 5ft 7in Argentine today with
an astonishing array of all-court tennis that was too much for Suarez to
handle. From the back of the court, Mauresmo unleashed one-handed backhands
that drew gasps from the crowd while she executed volleys at the net to near
perfection.
The first set was easy for the French woman. Although Suarez was a
semi-finalist at this year's French Open, she had never been this far at
Wimbledon and was nervy in the match's opening games. She was broken on
each of her first three service games, as she made a string of unforced
errors, and Mauresmo comfortably held her serve. Although Suarez had a
brief renaissance towards the end of the set, she never recovered from
a sluggish start. After losing the first set to love, it seemed as though
Mauresmo would take the match at a canter.
However, after letting out a howl of despair in the opening match of the
second set, when she hit a shot long, Suarez was a different player.
Displaying some gritty play, she found the confidence to fight back against
the Mauresmo serve with some punchy tennis from the back of the court. After
some scorching rallies between the two, Suarez broke the Mauresmo serve and
then served out to tie the match at a set apiece.
With No.1 Court filling up nicely, the match was set for a tense finale. In
the deciding set, though, Mauresmo's grass court experience told. Although
the French woman took the set with the loss of only one game, in truth the
set was a lot closer than the scoreline suggested. Although Suarez put
herself in a position to take the match to Mauresmo, with five break points
during the set, she could only convert one, while Mauresmo broke twice from
four opportunities.
Indeed, the turning point of the deciding set was in the fourth game, when
Suarez had two game points to square the set at 2-2. However, unforced errors
from Suarez allowed Mauresmo back in the match and after a tussle at deuce,
lost her serve - and effectively the match - at 3-1 and Mauresmo still to
serve. From then on it was fairly straight-forward for Mauresmo, as Suarez's
head dropped and Mauresmo won eight out the next nine games. The French
woman finally took the match with a characteristic shot - a forehand volley
at the net - before punching the air with delight and exploding with a wide
smile of relief.
Mauresmo has now reached the last four at Wimbledon on each of her previous
two attempts - she was a semi-finalist in 2002 but did not play at Wimbledon
last year because of injury. Her victor two years ago will be the same player
she is facing this time around, Serena Williams. The French woman will be out
for revenge after being humbled last time by the two-times champion, winning
only three games in a 6-2, 6-1 drubbing that took less than an hour.
Written by David Bates
Court 1 - Ladies' Singles - Quarterfinals
Amelie Mauresmo FRA (4) 6 5 6
Paola Suarez ARG (9) 0 7 1
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