August 7, 2005
Pierce Wins First Title of Year at San Diego
SAN DIEGO - Mary Pierce capped off an incredible week under clear San Diego
skies on Sunday afternoon, routing Ai Sugiyama 60 63 in the 2005 Acura
Classic final to claim her fourth career Tier I title, and first in over
five years.
Pierce, the No.6 seed this week, completely dominated the unseeded Sugiyama
from the beginning. The two-time Grand Slam champion was impeccable in the
22-minute first set, winning nearly two thirds of the points on her serve
and winning all but two of the points in Sugiyama's three service games.
Sugiyama put up more of a fight in the second set, starting with breaking
in the first game to finally get on the board, but Pierce quickly regained
control, winning five straight games to move ahead 5-1. She served it out
two games later, blasting a 109mph ace on her seventh match point to claim
victory in one hour, 15 minutes.
"It's great to win my first Tier I in a while," said Pierce, who becomes
the 16th woman in Tour history to surpass $8-million in career earnings
after pocketing the $189,000 winner's cheque this week. "I was playing
very well. I've put a lot of emphasis on my serves and returns. That's
where the point starts, and I think in the important moments, I was really
serving well and attacking."
"She played so great, so aggressively," said Sugiyama, who took home
$96,000. "Every point was tough for me because she was all over every
ball. In the second set, I raised my game and was moving better, playing
it point by point, but she was still too good. She was serving so well
and I don't think that my serve matched up to hers."
The 2005 Acura Classic trophy represents Pierce's fourth career Tier I
singles title, after winning at Rome in 1997, Moscow in 1998 and Hilton
Head in 2000. She has also finished runner-up in Tier I events four other
times, losing finals to Anke Huber at Philadelphia in 1994, to Iva Majoli
at Zurich in 1995, to Mary Joe Fernandez at Berlin in 1997 and to Venus
Williams at Rome in 1999. The Canadian-born Frenchwoman began her 2005
season winning just 12 of 20 matches, reaching just one quarterfinal
in 12 events contested. She has turned her season around since heading
to Roland Garros, however, winning 16 of her last 18 matches in reaching
the final in Paris, the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and claiming the title
in San Diego this week.
"A lot of points, definitely going to help my ranking," said Pierce on her
run this week, which produced her first title of 2005 and the 17th of her
career. "I've already defended all of my points for the rest of the year,
so it's all gravy now, just bonuses. I feel great and hopefully will keep
going."
Pierce did not drop a set all week in San Diego. After a first round bye,
the No.6 seed cruised past Stanford semifinalist Anna-Lena Groenefeld 61
61 in the second round, Fed Cup teammate and No.10 seed Nathalie Dechy 75
63 in the third round, Cincinnati champion and No.5 seed Patty Schnyder 64
63 in the quarterfinals and unseeded Chinese teenager Peng Shuai 62 62 in
the semifinals. Sunday's final featured the 11th career meeting between
Pierce and Sugiyama, with Sugiyama coming in riding a 6-4 head-to-head
advantage that included a three-set victory at San Diego in 1999. She
had also won four of their last five encounters, most recently a
straight-sets decision on the red clay of Rome last year.
"On paper, I was the favorite as far as ranking and the highest-seeded
player left, but head-to-head, Ai was up, so she could be viewed as the
favorite," said Pierce. "She's always been a tough opponent for me, so I
think today's match really showed how much I've improved."
Despite Sunday's loss, the run to the final this week marks a career
resurgence for Sugiyama, who had not reached even a quarterfinal in 18
events previously contested in 2005. The 30-year-old's week was not as
smooth as Pierce's, mostly complicated by three-set victories over No.14
seed Daniela Hantuchova and No.2 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second
and third rounds, respectively. Her 26 64 63 victory over the fourth-ranked
Kuznetsova was her first Top 10 win since defeating Justine Henin-Hardenne
at the 2003 Season-Ending Championships. Additionally, this was just the
fourth time that a Japanese woman was playing in a Tier I final. Kimiko
Date contested two Tier I finals in 1995, winning at Tokyo [Pan Pacific
Open] and finishing runner-up at Miami, and Sugiyama finished runner-up
in 1997 at Moscow.
Sugiyama also came up short in the doubles final, losing 67(7) 61 75 with
partner Hantuchova to the team of Conchita Martinez and Virginia Ruano
Pascual. The Spaniards, who were the No.3 seeds this week, came back from
a 5-3 third-set deficit and saved match points against the No.5 seeds en
route to the three hour, 13 minute victory, their second straight as a team
after winning at the Tier I event in Charleston earlier this season. The
title is the 13th in doubles for Martinez and the 34th for Ruano Pascual,
who is currently the world's No.1 doubles player. Ruano Pascual has now won
a Tour-leading five doubles titles in 2005, including her two victories
with Martinez and titles at Dubai, Indian Wells and Roland Garros with
Argentine Paola Suarez, her regular partner who is taking time off due
to a nagging hip injury.
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