Nation’s Expectations, Hingis Are Too Much for Mauresmo

This time, the expectations of a proud, protective country were far too much for the very able shoulders of Amelie Mauresmo.

The warm support for Mauresmo and open disdain for her nemesis, Martina Hingis, from the crowd at Roland Garros never truly translated into an asset for the powerful 19-year-old Wednesday.

Hingis lives for these big-match occasions, as her closest rival in the rankings, Lindsay Davenport, pointed out beforehand. The Swiss teenager cleverly transferred the pressure to Mauresmo and took the crowd out of the equation, winning the second-round match at the French Open, 6-3, 6-3, in 78 minutes.

“It’s like a soccer match when everybody expects a huge match and it’s more tactical and it’s only 1-0,” Hingis said. “That’s kind of the way it was in this tennis match.”

Mauresmo maintained that Hingis had more pressure because she is the No. 1 player in the world and the top-seeded player here. Still, the expectations have been too high in France for Mauresmo since she lost to Hingis in the final of the Australian Open in January. She beat Hingis in Paris a month later and, in anticipation of the French Open, there was a huge mural of Mauresmo in a square close to Roland Garros, replacing last year’s model of soccer star Ronaldo.

“I think people make a bigger thing out of her than she really is,” Hingis said. “I mean, she’s a girl and a player like everybody else. She had a great tournament in Australia. Probably today was too much for her, too much pressure. But I think in the future she’s going to be very dangerous.

“Everybody actually here in France made it very tough for her, always playing the rivalry, me against her. It didn’t work this time. But I also think I took her more seriously this time.”

The rivalry was born in Australia when Hingis made a series of insensitive remarks about Mauresmo’s sexuality, pointing out she was there with her girlfriend and that she was “half a man.”

Which is why every gesture and every word was analyzed before, during and after the match. Even Venus Williams was asked how she felt being a “warmup act” to the Hingis-Mauresmo match. French television cameras kept pointing at the friends’ box, showing every anxious expression from Mauresmo’s girlfriend and Hingis’ mother, Melanie Molitor.

Much was made of a moment when Hingis smiled at Mauresmo and did not receive a reciprocal gesture.

“Well, you know, she smiles all the time, I think,” Mauresmo said. “She always has this little smile. You know, I was in my game, my rhythm. I just don’t look too much forward.”

By then, Hingis was in control. Her experience in Grand Slam events (she has won five Grand Slam singles titles) kicked in with Mauresmo leading 3-2 in the sixth game of the first set. Hingis then won seven consecutive games to go up, 6-3, 3-0, breaking Mauresmo four consecutive times. Mauresmo’s ground strokes were flying all over.

Mauresmo thought the match turned when she missed a volley at 30-0 when she was leading 3-2 in the first set. From that point, she began rushing and trying to finish points too quickly.

“I was a bit tense, obviously. But she was tense as well,” Mauresmo said.

Said Hingis: “I was missing by five feet the first few games.”

As for the crowd reaction, it only unnerved her during the warmup.

“When we were hitting the first shot in the warmup it was like, ‘Allez, boo, allez, boo,’ ” Hingis said. “I was kind of happy I didn’t miss that first shot.”

Afterward, the players coolly shook hands at the net. Mauresmo said their relationship has not changed, and Hingis pointed out, “We’re not the best of friends on the tour. Obviously, everybody knows that.”

Clearly, it was no ordinary second-round match for either player.

“It’s like a heavy sack of stones fell down and I feel much lighter,” Hingis said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

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