http://www.rolandgarros.org/en_FR/news/articles/20030530155138a43679155ff96e1d00256d360051bad5.html
Mauresmo just too hot
By Guillaume Baraise
Friday, May 30, 2003
Fifth seed Amelie Mauresmo comfortably booked her passage to the last
sixteen at Roland-Garros Friday afternoon. Making light of the stiflingly
hot on-court conditions, she brushed aside unseeded Colombian Fabiola
Zuluaga 6-3 6-4 in one hour, 18 minutes.
The French No1 is bang on form, clearly gearing up for a serious assault
on Mount 'Roland'. And should she conquer the peak of women's clay court
tennis, she would follow in the footsteps of Mary Pierce, the last French
winner back in 2000.
After two outings on Philippe-Chatrier Court, Amelie Mauresmo found herself
'relegated' to Suzanne-Lenglen for this third round encounter against
Zuluaga. The two players have already met on clay this season, in the Fed
Cup. Mauresmo won that one 6-4 6-4 but had enough trouble to realise she
could not take the South American for granted here. The world ranked No46
has three clay court titles to her name, and a gutsy win over another
home player, Emilie Loit (9-7 in the third) gave her cause for hope.
Coached by Loic Courteau, the French No1 has been prone to nerves early
on in her matches at Roland-Garros. It is as though Amelie needs a little
time at the start of each encounter to forget her surroundings and get on
with the job in hand. Fortunately for Amelie, getting on with the job
usually means blasting her opponents off the court, and so it proved here.
Some distracted hitting initially gave Zuluaga a break to lead 2-1, but
then Mauresmo got into a groove to win four games in a row to take a 5-2
lead. The Colombian scraped back to 3-5, but a commanding volley on set
point the French girl the set 6-3 in 39 minutes.
Zuluaga held her own in the opening games of the second set, demonstrating
she can hit a tennis ball with as much power and precision as Mauresmo.
As the temperature flirted with 30 degrees, Amelie was forced to sweat in
some punishing rallies, before finally breaking the girl from Bogota in the
seventh game to break clear.
Employing her cross-court backhand to good effect, Mauresmo conserved her
advantage to serve for the set at 5-4. Under pressure at 15-30, she held
her nerve to serve out, clinching the match with a tricky backhand smash
to the delight of a packed crowd.
"I played solidly, with a few ups and downs, but I didn't serve well,"
admitted the world No5 after the match.
"I'm not playing perfect tennis, but the most important thing was to win."
Shaky serving (54 per cent of first serves today) and an equally shaky
temperament may yet prove her downfall, but American teen Ashley Harkleroad
or Spanish clay court 'journeywoman' Magui Serna are unlikely to trouble
her in the next round. A quarter final place beckons then, and with the
home fans behind her the sky may just be the limit for Amelie at Roland
Garros 2003.
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