Mauresmo Shows Serena Her Point of Departure

The 35-stroke rally was almost hypnotic -- side to side, power and touch, topspin and slice, finally ending when Amelie Mauresmo’s slice provoked an error from Serena Williams, whose backhand landed in the net.

In reality, that wasn’t match point. But it might as well have been.

What had been a compelling fourth-round match quickly faded as a weary Williams would win only three more points after the mesmerizing exchange in the sixth game of the third set. The top-seeded Mauresmo, of France, defeated wild-card entrant Williams, 6-4, 0-6, 6-2, Monday night at the U.S. Open.

“I was playing a little too far behind the baseline,” Williams said of the pivotal point. “She just kept blocking. I guess she was like that Pong game on the Andy Roddick commercial.”

So how do you say Pong in French? Unlike so many times before, the new and improved Mauresmo pulled herself together after an error-laden, 23-minute second set, picking up her aggression and giving Williams a lot of looks so she couldn’t settle into a comfort zone.

Williams’ lack of conditioning and match play -- this was only her fourth event of 2006 -- surfaced after the marathon point. The critical moment came with Williams serving at 2-3, 15-30, in the third, and her backhand error gave Mauresmo two break points.

“Key point, I think,” Mauresmo said. “It was pretty significant. First, it gives me two opportunities to break her. I could see physically she was touched by this point and had some trouble getting back into the match and being consistent.”

Match point, with Williams serving at 2-5, featured another long rally, and Williams forced the issue, drawing in Mauresmo with a drop shot. The Frenchwoman finished off the point, and match, with a tough angled backhand volley, and even she agreed with the assessment that it was one of the top 10 shots she has delivered on match point to win.

For all of Mauresmo’s accomplishments -- the No. 1 ranking and Wimbledon and Australian Open titles in 2006 -- it was only her second victory against Williams in 11 matches. Then again, since Mauresmo’s rise, it has been hard to find Williams because of her ailing knee and suspect motivation.

In her four events in 2006, Williams lost in January to Daniela Hantuchova, then to Vera Zvonareva, Jelena Jankovic and now Mauresmo this summer.

“I, at best, had a mediocre summer,” Williams said.

Williams’ departure leaves one American woman in the draw -- 10th-seeded Lindsay Davenport, who defeated No. 7 Patty Schnyder, 6-4, 6-4, in the fourth round and was stunned and excited by her arrival in the quarterfinals. This is her first Grand Slam event since the Australian Open in January.

“I promise you if someone had asked me at Wimbledon, I would have laughed that I would even be able to play here,” said Davenport, who was out for about six months because of a back injury and later suffered a concussion from a fall at her home.

Tonight, 30-year-old Davenport will play Justine Henin-Hardenne, who has defeated her six straight times after having lost their first five matches.

“Tim Henman had the greatest quote the other day [about] playing [Roger] Federer, because he had beaten him a bunch of times,” Davenport said. “He said it helps when you play him when he’s 11 years old. I played her a lot at the beginning of her career.”

Davenport said she could never pull an Andre Agassi and announce in advance that this would be her last year or final tournament.

“I feel like I’ve gone through a lot,” she said. “Each time, where it could have been or someone else thought it was the right time for me to stop, I’ve always wanted to get back out and start hitting again. ... I don’t know if that’s one more life away or a few more lives away, but I’m just happy that I came back again this last time.”

Speaking of Agassi, the man who beat him in his final professional match, German qualifier Benjamin Becker, exited at the hands of No. 9 Andy Roddick in a relatively routine fourth-round match, Roddick winning, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.

“Shooting the guy who shot Bambi?” Roddick said. “I guess it feels better than shooting Bambi.”

The other American in action, Robby Ginepri, lost to Tommy Haas in a rematch of their meeting here last year in the third round.

In a reversal of the 2005 result, Haas won the 3-hour 26-minute third-round match, 7-6 (1), 6-4, 3-6, 3-6, 7-6 (1), despite needing a medical timeout for breathing problems at 5-6 in the fifth set.

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lisa.dillman@latimes.com