LOS ANGELES: Mary Pierce edged top-ranked Lindsay Davenport 7-6(5), 7-6(6) in a match-up of the Pro Tour's oldest elite players in the semifinals of the WTA Championships on Saturday.

The 30-year-old Pierce advanced to Sunday's final against French countrywoman Amelie Mauresmo, who beat mistake-prone defending champion Maria Sharapova 7-6(1), 6-3.

No French player has ever won the championships, although Pierce was runner-up in 1997 and Mauresmo finished second in 2003. Pierce had 10 aces in a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 round-robin victory over Mauresmo on Friday.

Sharapova appeared listless against Mauresmo, falling to 4-7 in semifinals this year. The 18-year-old Russian hasn't reached a final since June when she won a Wimbledon warm-up at Birmingham.

She broke Mauresmo to open the match, then double-faulted away the tiebreaker after committing five forehand errors.

``At 5-2 down, I felt I could still come back,'' Mauresmo said. ``I only had one bad game on my own service. I didn't know she got injured. Maybe that's why she didn't manage to put her first serves in on big moments.''

Davenport's rare venture to the net for a winning forehand volley tied it 6-all, but then she netted a forehand to give Pierce her second match point. On a second serve, Pierce closed out the match when Davenport miss-hit an easy forehand well beyond the baseline.

The two players combined to serve seven love games, with Pierce connecting on 70 percent of her first serves and firing 10 aces to Davenport's 12.

The results (Semifinals): Mary Pierce (Fra) bt Lindsay Davenport (U.S.) 7-6(5), 7-6(6); Amelie Mauresmo bt Maria Sharapova (Rus) 7-6(1), 6-3. — Agencies

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