Pierce in Great Shape

07 February 2005 - Vincent DAVOLI
Mary Pierce made a remarked start in a tournament where she has always well performed. Twice runner-up and winner in 1998, the French player qualified for the second round by dominating Spanish Anabel Medina Garrigues from head to toe. She will play against her friend Mauresmo in the last sixteen.

From the first shots of the match which opposed her, Monday evening, to Anabel Medina Garrigues, Mary Pierce gave a radically different impression from what she conveyed in Melbourne mid-January. On that day, she was defeated by Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro in the first round of the Australian Open after making a great deal of direct faults and hitting all balls without respecting the pattern of the game.

For her start in one of her favourite tournaments, Pierce put on a real show for the numerous Parisian spectators who came to see her play. Sharp and patient, the Frenchwoman waited for the right opportunities to make shots only she has the secret of. On a tactical level, she achieved a perfect match and shone after getting back into shape. Consequence: Garrigues was overwhelmed from the beginning to the end of the match and never quite managed to worry her opponent.

At the end of the match, Pierce confessed she was extremely satisfied with her level and especially with her health. Having totally recovered from her shoulder injury, the French player took advantage of the Australian hot weather to improve her game and has been training in Paris for the last ten days. At the end of her match she admitted: “I feel great here.”

Time had now come for the second round and the encounter with her friend Amélie Mauresmo. “It’s going to be exciting to play against her here. Tactically, I won’t do anything special; I will try to impose my game and to attack. We know each other perfectly so there won’t be any surprises.” But the surprise could precisely come from Mary who is the outsider and who probably makes Mauresmo fearful.