Sony Ericsson WTA Tour : 2005


Mauresmo Wins Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships

In one of the most competitive finals in recent memory at the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships presented by Porsche, Amélie Mauresmo captured the biggest title of her career, holding off a spirited challenge from fellow Frenchwoman Mary Pierce, winnin

LOS ANGELES, CA, USA - In the first all-French final in the history of the season-ending event, the two players displayed solid form from the outset. After trading breaks in the third and fourth games of the match, they held serve en route to 5-all, when Pierce broke again and served out the opening set. Mauresmo struck back early in the second set, building a 4-1 lead, but Pierce brought it back to 4-all and the pair held on until the tie-break, where Mauresmo grabbed an early mini-break and held on to even the match at one set apiece.

The third set was closely-contested for the most part, with the Frenchwomen trading breaks early en route to 4-all, but it was Mauresmo who stepped it up in the ninth game, breaking serve and capitalizing on five consecutive errors from Pierce after falling behind 0-40 while serving for the match in the 10th game. Mauresmo finally won on one last backhand error from her compatriot to capture her biggest title to date, becoming the first French champion in the 35-year history of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships.

"This is the biggest win obviously," Mauresmo said. "It has to be ranked among the best and most emotional moments for me. I am just so proud of what I did today, especially the way the match was, the way I hung in there and kept fighting even though I was a break up and she came back, and I didn't say a word... It is a great feeling, obviously, and it was such a long match. I had wait so long for this."

"I just did everything in my power the best that I could today, and it wasn't meant to be," said Pierce, who had beaten Mauresmo in round robin play earlier this week. "She was very motivated out there today. I could see it. She wanted it. She definitely played better today than a couple days ago when I beat her. I think she knew that, that she needed to play very well and be aggressive to beat me, and she did that."

The championship final was not only of the highest quality, but also extremely evenly-matched. Both players hit more winners than unforced errors, with Mauresmo finishing at a +19 differential (44-25) and Pierce ending with a +6 differential (55-49). The two employed an all-court strategy, with both firing several aces (Mauresmo eight, Pierce four), hitting numerous winners from the baseline, and approaching the net often and successfully (Mauresmo won on 23 of 36 approaches, Pierce won on 24 of 34). At final count, Mauresmo and Pierce were separated by only two points (124-122) in the three-hour, seven-minute battle.

"It felt great on the court, and it still feels great now," Mauresmo said. "The way we both played today makes it even better and the way I have been playing the whole week. So it is just a great reward for me to be able to hold the trophy at the end of this week and really couldn't be any better than I could expect."

For Mauresmo, the Tour Championships title caps an impressive season in which she has never departed from the Top Four in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Singles Rankings, capturing titles in February at Antwerp (Tier II), in May at Rome (Tier I) and just last week in Philadelphia (Tier II). The 26-year-old Frenchwoman has also reached finals on three other occasions, at Paris [Indoors], New Haven and Filderstadt, and at one point earlier on in the season was just one match away from reclaiming the No.1 ranking she first ascended to in September of last year. In Los Angeles this week, she qualified for the semifinals with a 2-1 round robin record (defeating Kim Clijsters and Elena Dementieva, falling to Pierce) and reached her second final here with a tight two set defeat of defending champion Maria Sharapova on Saturday. On Monday's year-end rankings, Mauresmo is projected to move up from No.4 to No.3, her highest ranking since the US Open.

"I really think it is definitely a huge step for me," added Mauresmo, who has reached the quarterfinals or better at 14 Grand Slam events but has never come away with a major title. "I don't know where it is going to take me, but it is a step, and usually when you pass something like that, you know it is an important moment. I don't know where it is going to take me, but this is really great what I have achieved."

Despite Sunday's defeat, her run to the final marks a solid conclusion to the Pierce renaissance of 2005, which has seen her become one of the hottest players on the Tour since the end of the clay court season. The 30-year-old has won 29 of her last 33 matches in capturing Tier I titles at San Diego and Moscow, reaching finals at Roland Garros, the US Open and here, also making a run to the quarters at Wimbledon. The two-time Grand Slam champion (1995 Australian Open, 2000 Roland Garros) has lost only at the majors prior to this week in the aforementioned run, falling to Justine Henin-Hardenne at Roland Garros, to Venus Williams at Wimbledon and to Clijsters at the US Open. She reached this week's semifinals on the strength of a perfect 3-0 record in round robin play (defeating Clijsters, Dementieva and Mauresmo), then advanced to the final with a straight set defeat of current No.1 Lindsay Davenport. Pierce will stay at No.5, the fourth time in her career she has finished a season ranked that high, and the first time in six years.

"Any loss is tough, especially in the finals, especially in a close match, especially when you feel like you had opportunities," Pierce added. "I believe it will motivate me a little more in the off-reason, make me a little more hungrier. These are great signs for me. If I can consistently do it over a year, I would like to see where I can be at the end of the year. The goal of mine is to be No.1. I think it is possible. Whether it happens, I don't know. But definitely this week has given me a lot of confidence to be in the top. I have beaten Kim, Elena, and Amélie and Lindsay. So it is definitely going to motivate me for next year."

This year marked the 35th staging of the Tour Championships, and the last in Los Angeles as it moves to Madrid in 2006. There have been 15 champions at the event, including eight-time winner Martina Navratilova, five-timer Steffi Graf, four-time winner Chris Evert, three-time winner Monica Seles and two-time winners Evonne Goolagong, Gabriela Sabatini, Martina Hingis and Clijsters. Other winners include Davenport, Serena Williams, Sharapova and now Mauresmo, who took home $1 million for the victory. Pierce pocketed $500,000.


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