Pierce keeps French hopes alive

By Andrew Bogush
Sunday, May 29, 2005

One day after Amelie Mauresmo's early exit and less than an hour after Paul-Henri Mathieu came up short in five sets, Mary Pierce gave the people of Paris something to cheer about Sunday with a 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 victory over eighth-seeded Patty Schnyder.

Pierce and Sebastien Grosjean, whose match against Rafael Nadal Sunday night was postponed by rain, are the only French representatives left at Roland Garros.

"I always play my best tennis here," said Pierce. "I like big challenges. I like the crowd. There's something special about playing in Paris."

The 2000 champion broke Schnyder to take control of the decisive set, but the Swiss would not go down quietly, delaying any Parisian celebration. She sidestepped a break point at 1-3 and then fought off nine match points over consecutive games to pull to 4-5. After avoiding another match point, Schnyder finally bowed out as Pierce's forehand winner sailed past her backhand.

"I just went for it, like every other point. I don't have any regrets on the ones that I lost," Pierce said about those dicey final games. "Definitely it would have been a tough match to lose after having so many match points."

"But, gosh, all credit to Patty. She never gave up. She always kept putting the ball back. She made me play. Made me win it."

This is a disappointing exit for sure for Schnyder, 25, who had reached at least the quarter-finals in her four previous clay court events, including a runner-up finish in Rome. A run that put her back in the Top 10 for the first time in six years.

In the quarter-finals, Pierce gets top-seeded Lindsay Davenport, who continued her amazing run in Paris Sunday morning with another comeback victory. Down a set and 3-1 to Kim Clijsters, who had beaten the American six straight times, Davenport stormed back to win 6-3 in the third. All four of her matches in this French Open have now followed the same pattern.

"Mary…is going to be trying to take it to me by who can get the bigger shot off first, hard serves, going for winners, having the crowd behind her," said the world number-one about Tuesday's affair.

Davenport owns an 8-2 mark (2-1 clay) against Pierce, but they have not met since 1999.

"I really like her a lot off the court," Pierce said. "She's No. 1 in the world, No. 1 seed.

"On paper I shouldn't win. On paper I shouldn't have won the last two matches. But I'm playing my favorite tournament. It's definitely better to play her on clay than on grass."