Pierce shocks Davenport to reach WTA Championships final Sun Nov 13, 2005 12:00 AM GMT

By Matthew Cronin

LOS ANGELES, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Mary Pierce of France shocked top-ranked Lindsay Davenport 7-6 7-6 to reach the final of the WTA Championships on Saturday.

Pierce will next play either defending champion Maria Sharapova of Russia or another Frenchwoman, Amelie Mauresmo.

In a high quality match in which both players brought out their best form, Pierce racked up 40 winners, with only 10 unforced errors, to eliminate the American.

During her fourth straight victory at the Championships, Pierce served amazingly well, making 70 percent of her first serves while blasting 10 aces.

Davenport's serving was also impressive as she racked up 10 aces and 49 winners overall but was unable to keep up with Pierce's consistent attack from the baseline at key moments.

The women traded breaks in the first set but in the tiebreak Davenport committed a forehand error to give Pierce a 6-4 lead.

The American clubbed a service winner to make it 6-5 but Pierce then ripped a forehand crosscourt winner off the top of the net to take the set.

Both women raised their level of play in the second set, when there were no breaks of serve forcing another tiebreak.

But the 30-year-old Pierce, who has reached the French and U.S. open finals this year, was again the more cool-headed and ambitious player, registering five winners.

Davenport fought off a match point at 6-5 in the tiebreak with a forehand volley winner before Pierce won the contest when the American put an easy forehand long.

Despite the defeat, Davenport will finish the year as the world number one for the fourth time in her career, although in three of those years she failed to win a grand slam.

Pierce has had extraordinary run through the second half of the season and since the start of the French Open she has a 31-4 record including winning titles in San Diego and Moscow.

Pierce would be the first Frenchwoman to win the title.