Can Mauresmo Win the Big One? Oui!

By Lisa Dillman

Nov. 14, 2005 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

This was for those meltdowns on clay at Roland Garros against the likes of Jana Kandarr, Paola Suarez and Ana Ivanovic -- take your yearly pick -- and for a growing French legion of doubters.

Full-scale erasure?

Not quite. But 26-year-old Amelie Mauresmo of France took a great leap forward, winning the most important women’s tennis title outside of the Grand Slams on Sunday. She defeated countrywoman Mary Pierce, 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-4, in the final of the season-ending WTA Tour Championships.

The last Los Angeles chapter of the event -- which will move to Madrid after four years at Staples Center -- was unexpectedly riveting. Mauresmo and Pierce entertained an announced crowd of 9,412 for 3 hours 6 minutes with an inspiring display of power tennis and shot-making, filled with mutual appreciation and artful changes of direction.

This was never more true than in the last game. Serving for the match at 5-4, Mauresmo fell behind, 0-40.

“I thought the worst thing that can happen in that game is I lose it and we are 5-5, which is not so bad,” Mauresmo said.

So just when Mauresmo seemed on the verge of a textbook collapse, Pierce was the one who crumbled in a wave of unforced errors, losing the match with five consecutive mistakes. Mauresmo won the title and $1 million when Pierce hit a backhand wide. She dropped to her knees in celebration.

“It is the biggest win, obviously,” said Mauresmo, the first Frenchwoman to win the tournament. “It has to be ranked among the best emotional moments for me. I’m just so proud of what I did today, especially the way the match was and the way I hung in there and kept fighting.”

This was a long-delayed moment of gratification for someone who showed so much potential, going back to 1999 when she reached the Australian Open final. Mauresmo did become No. 1 in the world in 2004 but has not been back to a Grand Slam final since Melbourne.

She said in her on-court TV interview that many people thought she could never do something like this. Mauresmo admitted moments of doubt herself, though that did not make it any easier to ignore the criticism.

“Well, you hear it anyway,” she said later in the interview room. “And I guess for a sensitive person, it goes to you at some point when you are still hearing the same things. As I said yesterday in French, the best answer I can give is on the court.”

She had lost her last two matches against Pierce, the most recent a three-set defeat Friday in the final round-robin match. Her plan in the final was to keep Pierce in longer rallies, and it paid off.

Mauresmo was able to withstand the barrage of powerful groundstrokes. Pierce hit 55 winners but had 49 unforced errors. Mauresmo had just 25 unforced errors, an impressive number considering the length of the match and the rapid-fire pace.

Both finalists had appealing back stories. Pierce, 30, is playing her best tennis in years, reaching two Grand Slam finals in 2005, and is in realistic range of No. 1. Mauresmo finished the year No. 3, and Pierce is No. 5.

“I believe it will motivate me a little more in the off-season, make me a little hungrier,” Pierce said. “And maybe if I won, who knows? That is the only match I lost [here], and it was a hard-fought one. These are great signs for me.”

And, of course, for Mauresmo.

Kim Clijsters of Belgium won here in 2002 and 2003 and had her Grand Slam breakthrough this year. Perhaps this victory will serve as a launching pad for Mauresmo’s first Slam title.

“I really think it’s a huge step for me, definitely,” she said. “I don’t know where it’s going to take me. But it is a step. Usually when you pass something like that, you realize it is an important moment. But this is really great what I have achieved.”

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Top notch

WTA’s end-of-the year singles champions:

* 1972: Chris Evert

* 1973: Chris Evert

* 1974: Evonne Goolagong

* 1975: Chris Evert

* 1976: Evonne Goolagong

* 1977: Chris Evert

* 1978: Martina Navratilova

* 1979: Martina Navratilova

* 1980: Tracy Austin