Punches out peng, to face sugiyama
Pierce one win from 1st US hard court title
Mary: "I feel the best I ever have"
FROM THE ACURA CLASSIC IN CARLSBAD, CALIF. – Mary Pierce
is just one step away from her first title on US hardcourts, and it may be a
very short one.
France's finest player smoked an exhausted Shuai Peng 6-2, 6-2 in the semis to
reach the final of the Acura Classic, her first appearance in US tournament
final played on cement since she fell in the Acura to Lindsay Davenport in 1998.
Two-time Slam champ Pierce has won 14 singles titles in her 16-year career, but
has never taken one on surface she learned to play on and in nation she grew up.
Pierce will face the winner tonight's semifinal between Japan's Ai Sugiyama and
Akiko Morigami and would love to change that record.
"To think that are still some firsts in my career at this stage is great,"
Pierce said.
She'll face Japan’s Ai Sugiyama in the final, who
advanced when her countrywoman, Akiko Morigami, retired down 6-4, 4-3 with a
right knee injury. Sugiyama -- who advanced to her first final since Janaury of
'04 at the Gold Coast -- leads her head to head meetings with Pierce six to
four.
With Peng at least a step slow if not more after playing two difficult contests
on Friday night, Pierce simply served and returned her off the court. She hit
all the corners of the box with her flat and kick serves, went for broke on
Peng's second serves and rarely backed off on her ground strokes.
Her brother and coach, David, scouted Peng's match against Kim Clijsters and
gave Mary a thorough tip sheet
"He said her second serve is attackable; she serves a lot down the tee; she's
hitting hard and down the line. Kim was hitting short, with more spin and Kim
was standing way back and Shuai was standing on the baseline and just nailing
the ball, especially on her returns," Pierce said of her coach's remarks.
While Clijsters is a far better defensive player than Pierce, she's not a better
offensive one and doesn't serve or return with same ferociousness. In order to
pummel Peng, you have to keep her backing up.
"She's a dangerous player if you let her play, so the key the ball was hitting
the ball hard and deep, staying aggressive and trying to come forward," said
Pierce. I had a couple of return games I was really happy with, staying down and
hitting through the ball. In important moments I served well and that was key."
The 19-year-old had a minor chance in the final game of the first set, but
failed to convert on six break-point opportunities.
PENG COULDN'T OVERCOME TWO HARD MATCHES FRIDAY
NIGHT
"I was really tired after playing almost four
hours last night," Peng said. "My energy didn't come back. My fitness is getting
better, but I need to do more."
Since beginning her stunning run to the Roland Garros final, Pierce has won 15
of her last 17 matches, only taking losses to Justine Henin-Hardenne in the
Roland Garros final and to Venus Williams in the Wimbledon quarters. The
30-year-old has said that outside of the loss to Henin-Hardenne, she's only
played one bad set in that time.
"I feel the best I ever have," Pierce said. "I play better now than I did
before. Girls are better now than they are before and being at the top is a lot
tougher. … I want sure how good I would play coming in here. You never know.
But, in my first match against Anna-Lena Groenefeld, I knew I was moving and
hitting the ball well. I never go into the tournament thinking I don't have a
chance. But, I also never look at the draw and think I'm going to win. You can
lose in the first round or win the title. You just never know."
Remarkably, Pierce says she has no control over how well she's going to play,
saying that some days are just flat out bad. "I just try to do the things that
are important to me that give myself the best chance to perform well," she said.