2005 French Open News
By Eleanor Preston| May 31, 2005
 As
renaissance women go, Mary Pierce is in a class of
her own. The 30-year-old has always been capable
of doing the opposite of what one might predict,
but by making the semi-finals of the French Open
she may well have excelled herself this time. What’s
more, with a winnable semi against Elena Likhovtseva
in prospect and a rabidly patriotic French crowd
noisily supporting her, she may yet have more surprises
up her sleeve.
Likhovtseva, who will be 30 in September, ended 15-year-old
Sesil Karatancheva’s
run with a stubborn 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 win.
“That’s life, you never now.
I was almost having a breakdown 20 minutes before the match but once I got
on court, everything was going in. I was like ‘wow’,
this is my day,” said Pierce, who also revealed that she has now repaired
her relationship with her father Jim, who was once banned from the WTA Tour
for his behavior, so much so that she had lunch
at his house every day when she is at home in Florida.
Pierce was in
tremendous form against Lindsay Davenport, beating the American 6-3,
6-2 despite
a few trademark bouts of nerves from Pierce, not to mention a male streaker
with a message for French president Jacques Chirac written across his scrawny
chest. Pierce, who was 5-0 up at the time, saw the funny side, though it
did little to help her concentration.
Fortunately for her she had Davenport
well beaten by that stage. Pierce raced to a 3-0 lead in a matter of
minutes and exploited the American’s weaknesses
on a surface she has never really come to terms with. Davenport had battled
through all her matches en route to the last eight but it would have
taken a great deal more than just stubborn defence to beat
Pierce in the form she was in.
“I took a moment out there, maybe it was when I
had one of my match points, close to the end, when the
crowd was really cheering for me and I looked to the scoreboard
said to myself ‘this is going to make for good memories
for the rest of my life’. That comes from experience.
You learn to appreciate those moments.”
Since winning the title in 2000,
Pierce suffered a catalogue of injuries including career-threatening
shoulder problems and she has done well to get her ranking
up as high as its current mark of 23, let alone get herself
through to the last four at a grand slam for the first
time since her Roland Garros victory. “It’s
been a really interesting journey,” said Pierce. “I have
had some really difficult moments.”
There were few of those against Davenport. It will be
scant consolation for the American as she heads home to
prepare for the grass court season that she will retain
her World No.1 ranking, at least for the time being.
Maria Sharapova, who had to do better
than Davenport to have a hope of overtaking her, also went
out in the quarterfinals,
making a surprisingly meek 6-4, 6-2 exit to Justine Henin-Hardenne.
Like Davenport, Sharapova has not yet worked out how
to adapt her game to clay and against a woman who won the
Roland Garros title in 2003 and has won her last 22 matches
on the surface, she was well beaten. She is now due to
play next week at the DFS Classic in Birmingham on her
favored grass.
Henin-Hardenne now plays Nadia Petrova, who beat Serbian
youngster Ana Ivanovic 6-2, 6-2.
 The best case scenario became a reality in the men’s
event when Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer both won in straight
sets to ensure that they meet in a semi-final that had
mouths watering the moment the draw was made. Nadal beat
an injured David Ferrer 7-5, 6-2, 6-0 while Federer was
in cruise control against unseeded Romanian Victor Hanescu,
notching up a 6-2, 7-6. 6-3 win.
“I think that today
I can be pleased,” said Federer It was
one of my best matches. This is why I can say that I'm quite
pleased with my level of tennis. It's very important to keep that level,
and I'm going to use the next two days as best as possible. The match against
Nadal is going to be very interesting. It’s a big moment.”
///BACK
|
