FRENCH OPEN / WOMEN : Fan Favorite Pierce Overwhelmed by Majoli

It might have been possible for Mary Pierce, the only French player left in the French Open, to literally feel the pressure of expectation here. After all, hadn’t she reached the French Open final last year? Hadn’t she recently won the Australian Open?

Even if her nerves had been able to withstand the pressure, apparently the third-seeded Pierce’s body could not. Hobbled by a groin strain and assorted other ailments, Pierce was knocked out in the fourth round on Sunday by 17-year-old Iva Majoli of Croatia, 6-2, 6-3.

Seventh-seeded Lindsay Davenport of Newport Beach held off three match points against ninth-seeded Kimiko Date of Japan, but succumbed, 6-4, 6-3. Chanda Rubin, who upset Jana Novotna on Saturday, advanced to the quarterfinals by beating Ai Sugiyama of Japan, 6-2, 1-6, 6-2.

Pierce’s match got off to a tentative start: She won one point on her serve, then the match was delayed because of rain.

Pierce had not looked impressive in getting this far, and clearly something had been bothering her. The question was whether the problem was physical or mental.

“Well, I’m the kind of person and a player that doesn’t like to make excuses when I lose,” Pierce said. “But I felt it inhibited me quite a bit. I wasn’t able to serve and when I was serving and when I was running for each shot, and Iva was making me run quite a bit, she was playing pretty well.”

Pierce took a three-minute injury timeout in the second set to have her groin wrapped. Majoli was left to her own devices and, to stay warm in the interim, she fished a racket out of her bag and offered it to a ball boy.

The young man, 14-year-old Vincent Ricard, rallied with Majoli for a few minutes to the delight of the crowd. Ricard had the pluck to attempt a few drop shots against Majoli, who played along with good humor.

Pierce returned, but figuratively never came back.

Majoli, who was buoyant in victory, gained the advantage of the crowd’s sentiments. At one point in the eighth game of the second set, the French crowd booed Pierce when she made no attempt to run down a ball wide to her forehand.

“Mary wasn’t at her best, maybe,” Majoli said. “And the crowd started cheering for me. I think it was great. I think it helped me a lot at the end.”

For Majoli, the crowd’s help was merely a bonus. She sustained pressure by playing aggressively and keeping Pierce on her heels. So confident was Majoli that even on her three match points on Pierce’s serve, she attacked.

The contrast between the players was vivid and, perhaps, embarrassing for Pierce.

“I’m very disappointed,” Pierce said. “I really didn’t expect to lose this early in the tournament, then again, I didn’t have very much luck. I got sick in the very beginning. And, you know, my leg was bothering me to run, so, with those two things, it was difficult to play at the top level I needed to play.”