Pierce Progresses By Skin of Teeth

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Mary Pierce scraped past a player ranked 220 in the world to edge into the third round early this evening. The revival which took her to the French Open final last month was nowhere in evidence on Court No.3 as Pierce struggled to beat Julia Vakulenko of the Ukraine 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 9-7.

Is this really only Pierce's 10th Wimbledon? It seems she has been coming here for a couple of decades. But maybe it is an illusion created by her style of play, and especially her ever-lengthier build-up to serving. Gone are the days when she felt obliged to make a dozen minute adjustments to her hair and dress before being able to deliver the ball. Now she merely gazes into the distance for so long that observers feel sure she must have caught sight of some spooky incident beyond their own line of vision.

Not that this trademark preparation necessarily helps the job in hand. It wasn't as if she began the match in the sparkling style of a champion, commencing with a double fault. After that, a forehand down the line drifted wide to give Vakulenko break point, whereupon Pierce managed to double fault again. It was an inauspicious start. Powering away from the baseline, she found Vakulenko's serve difficult to deal with. Meanwhile Vakulenko - herself a devotee of the baseline as a clay court specialist - was thumping away contentedly. A powerful forehand gave her set point, and an unreturned serve secured the set in 32 minutes.

Of course on paper this match was a straightforward task for Pierce. That said, just a year ago the Ukrainian was ranked 68, but her game has not progressed. The last of her ITF titles came two years ago, the same year as she reached the third round at Roland Garros. But even today's second round match was new Wimbledon territory for her, as she had not got beyond the first round in her two previous main draw appearances in SW19.

Pierce had not played a match between her dismal French Open final defeat to Justine Henin-Hardenne last month and the start of her Wimbledon campaign. But the Frenchwoman remains nothing if not unpredictable. Her clay court season was solid, but in no way hinted at the startling run of results she would string together at Roland Garros.

Yet there was no reason to think she would make such a meal of this match, even allowing for the fact that she has never got beyond the quarter-finals here. In the second set she looked to be resuming normal service by breaking Vakulenko for 5-4, but a disputed line call gave the Ukrainian the break back. Pierce secured three more break points but watched them all leave as fast as they arrived. Vakulenko's backhand was doing Pierce serious damage, and the Frenchwoman required an ace to save match point in the tiebreak. Pierce muffed one set point before capturing a second, and carried on the muddled theme throughout the third set before finally closing out the match.

A third round meeting with the charismatic 17-year-old Ana Ivanovic beckons for Pierce.