The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Pierce stuns Justine Henin

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Wednesday, Sep 07, 2005

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Sport - Tennis

Pierce stuns Justine Henin

Liz Robbins

NEW YORK: Exactly three months ago, Mary Pierce stood on the red clay in Paris as an eyewitness, not only to Justine Henin-Hardenne's prowess, but more so to her own personal reawakening.

Pierce's surge in the French Open at age 30 may have stopped abruptly in a 6-1, 6-1 loss in the final, but she knew then she was on to something. She returned to gruelling two-a-day training sessions in Florida, surrounded by her brother and her once-estranged father, spending hours pummelling the ball in the humidity.

She continued to get into the kind of shape where she could effortlessly sprint for drop shots and lobs, then strike winners — just the way she did on Monday night.

In a dominant 6-3, 6-4 victory at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Pierce was a different player in the women's fourth round of the U.S. Open than she was at the French Open. So was Henin-Hardenne.

Pierce was 20 when she won her first Grand Slam event, the 1995 Australian Open; she was 25 when she won the French Open in 2000. She endured ankle and back injuries, and, last year, a shoulder injury before rededicating herself to training.

``It's kind of neat because it's just really what I had hoped for and believed but probably more hoped for — that my best years were still ahead of me when I had my injuries,'' Pierce said. ``I said, `My last years will be my best years.' You know, I'm feeling pretty good about that.''

Intense training

Pierce has been training again under Nick Bollettieri's eye at the Bradenton, Fla., academy where she began her career. Her brother and coach, David, was there. Bollettieri served as an adviser. And Pierce's father, Jim, who was once barred by the WTA, also rejoined her inner circle.

He is cracking jokes and telling stories at practice, even if his reconciliation with Pierce has ``been years now,'' she said. Jim Pierce was barred from the tour in the early '90s because of his abusive behaviour.

``That's just very, very important,'' she said of her father's presence. ``I think, you know, after my relationship with God, then comes my family, and then my friends. It just creates such a balance.''

Pierce is careful not to upset that balance, by not inviting her father to the U.S. Open. ``If there were different circumstances, maybe I thought, `Oh, this is my last one,' or, `He's dying of something,''' she said, adding, ``He gets too nervous and he gets me too nervous.''

There were only a few moments of concern on Monday night. Pierce raced to a 5-0 lead in the first 19 minutes with two quick service breaks. Henin-Hardenne committed six double faults in the first set and struggled — as she has this summer, by hitting shots off her racquet frame.

Although Henin-Hardenne stormed back to win the next three games, she did not have enough fight, and Pierce held serve for victory. Henin-Hardenne's right hamstring (to which she affixed a medicinal patch) had been bothering her since she won the French Open. But this time, Pierce bothered her more.

— New York Times News Service

Agencies report

Heartbreaking

A heartbreaking loss in the mixed doubles quarterfinals ended Leander Paes' Grand Slam campaign for the year while his fellow Mahesh Bhupathi also made a third round exit in the doubles event.

Seeking their third Grand Slam title as a pair, seventh seed Paes and veteran American Martina Navratilova were shocked 6-7 (2-7), 7-5, 6-7 (11-9) by the unheralded Serb-Slovenian pair of Nenad Zimonjic and Katarina Srebotnik in a marathon thriller.

Meanwhile, Paes' former doubles partner, Mahesh Bhupathi also had a bad day as he lost a third round men's doubles match.

Seventh-seeded Bhupathi and Martin Damm of Czech Republic went down 4-6, 7-6, 3-6 to ninth-seeded Simon Aspelin from Sweden and Todd Perry of Australia in a three-set thriller which lasted two hours and five minutes.

Rupesh advances

India had mixed fortune on the opening day of the boys' events with Rupesh Roy sailing into the second round with a straight set victory against his American opponent while Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan went down to 16th seed Jessee Levine.

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