23 Nov 2003 - Olympic Stadium, Moscow, RUS - Chris Bowers
France Completes 4-1 Win Over USA to Claim Second Fed Cup Title
It seems almost a little strange that a tennis nation with the history of
France should only be winning the Fed Cup for the second time. Five times
a Frenchwoman has won the Roland Garros singles title, but France’s team
tennis triumphs have been limited to 1997 and now 2003.
The common player is Mary Pierce. She featured in the 1997 final in Den
Bosch when the French beat the Netherlands, and after a six-year absence
she returned to play in another French winning team, this time in Moscow.
But while Pierce’s role was crucial, the real player of the week that
featured in the semi-finals and final was Amelie Mauresmo. And it was
fitting that she should steer the winners to their title. Mauresmo, who
has run into her best form over the past few weeks, improved her 2003 Fed
Cup record to eight out of eight by beating Meghann Shaughnessy 62 61, a
victory which gave France an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the final against the
USA.
With a further win for Emilie Loit over the Fed Cup debutant Alexandra
Stevenson, 64 62, and victory for Martina Navratilova and Lisa Raymond
over Loit and Stephanie Cohen-Aloro 64 60, it made the final score 4-1
to the French.
“I feel such pride, and joy for the whole team,” said Mauresmo, who sank
to her knees with emotion when one of countless Shaughnessy forehands went
into the net on the second match point. She jumped into the arms of captain
Guy Forget, and shed tears of joy at the courtside, before joining her
team-mates and support staff in an on-court celebratory can-can.
“I really wanted to win the Fed Cup,” added Mauresmo, who puts this
alongside her 10 WTA Tour titles and run to the final of the 1999 Australian
Open. “It’s right up there, it’s one of the biggest moments, maybe the
biggest one, and sharing this with a team makes it also very special.”
The triumph allows Guy Forget to join his former team-mate Yannick Noah
as the only people ever to have captained winning Davis Cup and Fed Cup
teams. It also means Martina Navratilova finishes on the losing side in
the Fed Cup for the first time in 23 ties, but her doubles win allows her
to keep up her record of never having lost a Fed Cup rubber, a record she
has now extended to 39 matches.
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