Pierce’s Road to Wellness

Evidence suggests that Paris was where Mary Pierce of France turned it around this year, beating four players ranked in the top 20 to reach the French Open final.

That isn’t entirely accurate.

The first glimmer of resurgence actually materialized in March at Indian Wells. In back-to-back matches, Pierce took out two of the game’s hardest hitters, Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic and Nadia Petrova of Russia, in straight sets.

That set the early foundation for her run in Paris and at Wimbledon. Pierce lost to Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium in the French Open final, and to eventual champion Venus Williams in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. She has won 21 of her last 23 matches, and 10 straight, not including the Fed Cup in July.

Which is why the record between the 12th-seeded Pierce and No. 6 Elena Dementieva of Russia, who will meet today in the U.S. Open semifinals, does not carry huge significance. Top-seeded Maria Sharapova of Russia and No. 4 Kim Clijsters of Belgium will play in the second semifinal.

Dementieva is 2-0 against Pierce, but they have not played since 2003.

“Right now, she is a completely different player,” said Dementieva, a finalist here last year. “She feels so confident. She has such a solid game. She moves much better. She really improved a lot the last two years.”

Pierce won the French Open in 2000 and later suffered a career-threatening back injury, which greatly altered her perspective.

“I didn’t know if I was going to be able to play again or not,” she said. “There was just kind of like this little voice inside of me that just said, ‘You know, you’re not done. Now’s not the time to retire. You still have some great things to accomplish in tennis.’ ”

Pierce is the only one of the final four not to lose a set here. Sharapova and Clijsters had their toughest tests in the quarterfinals, needing three sets against Petrova and Venus Williams, respectively. Dementieva, who has double-faulted 62 times in five matches, needed a third-set tiebreaker in the third round and in the quarterfinals against Lindsay Davenport.

Clijsters, who has been in four Grand Slam finals, is 3-0 against Sharapova, including a 6-3, 7-5 victory in the Miami final. Sharapova reached the No. 1 ranking for the first time last month, then lost it to Davenport after just one week, and will regain it Monday. Clijsters is 6-0 in finals this year and has lost once in 22 matches since Wimbledon.