20 Nov 2003 - Olympic Stadium, Moscow, RUS - Chris Bowers
RUS v FRA
Lucky Charm Pierce Sees French Into final
Martina Navratilova described Mary Pierce as the French team’s “wildcard”
at the start of a week. At the end of a year in which the 28-year-old
Frenchwoman has got her ranking back up to 33, she has returned to play
Fed Cup for the first time since helping France to its sole victory in
the 40-year-old competition back in 1997.
Perhaps “lucky charm” would be a better term than wildcard, because with
Pierce back, France has now reached only its second final, and it was Pierce
who scored the decisive point by beating Russia’s Vera Zvonareva 64 36 63.
“I don’t really believe in luck,” she said, “but it would be nice if my
presence helped the French team. I just want to bring something to the team,
I’m the oldest player, I’m the only one to have won Grand Slam titles in
singles and doubles, and it’s great to be back.”
It was a second roller-coaster ride in 24 hours for Pierce, who lost to
Anastasia Myskina from match point up on the opening day, and who again
let a one-set lead slip against Zvonareva. Pierce dominated the opening
set, but when she was broken in the fourth game of the second, the
19-year-old Russian came back strongly to take the match into a decider.
Pierce struck in the fourth game of it to take what could have been a
decisive break, but at 4-2 Zvonareva broke back. With the Frenchwoman
vulnerable to tiredness after her long three-setter against Myskina
night, Zvonareva had the 7000-strong home crowd wildly excited again,
but Pierce broke straight back, and played a very tight final service
game to see the French home.
“I was very relieved,” she said afterwards. “Obviously happy, but the
main feeling was of relief. Guy [Forget] had told me after the Myskina
match that I still had another one to play, that we hadn’t lost, and
in the final set there he kept telling me to go forward and be aggressive,
and that was it.”
The last time Pierce played Fed Cup was in the 1997 final, when she helped
France beat the Netherlands in Den Bosch. Then the captain was Yannick Noah,
so these past two matches have been her first under Forget. “You can’t
compare the two, they’re so different. Guy is funny and serious, he makes
some helpful suggestions, and I feel really comfortable with him.”
In this weekend’s final, Pierce probably holds the key to France’s chances
of victory. Unless Amelie Mauresmo suffers a major dip in form, the world
No. 4 looks good to win her two singles matches, which would mean one
victory for Pierce would see France to only its second Fed Cup title.
As for Russia, its young team have every right to view this as a week of
building experience. “I played for the first time in front of such a crowed
like this and I feel I’ll be more comfortable next time,” said Zvonareva.
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