AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. -- You don't collect 40 titles on the WTA Tour without knowing how to size up an opponent.
Lindsay Davenport watched Amelie Mauresmo win a long, tough match over top-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne in the semifinals of the Bausch & Lomb Championships and knew what she needed to do Sunday to win the tournament for the second time.
Attacking relentlessly and setting the tone with big serves, Davenport beat Mauresmo 6-4, 6-4 to become just the 10th woman to own 40 singles titles.
"I came out with the game plan of wanting to be aggressive, to try to dictate the points and not get into long rallies," the fourth-ranked Davenport said.
"I figured I was going to have a lot of unforced errors because I just wanted to go for it, keeping the points short and looking to attack. I felt like I did that well."
She did have 19 unforced errors -- the same number as Mauresmo -- but Davenport also had 26 winners, seven more than her opponent. And Mauresmo hurt herself with five double-faults, perhaps a sign of fatigue.
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| Lindsay Davenport doesn't go easy on her tired opponent, Amelie Mauresmo.(AP) |
A day after starting slowly in the semifinals against Nadia Petrova, Davenport dropped the opening game against Mauresmo before winning five straight to take control of the match on green clay.
The third-ranked Mauresmo erased a second-set match point en route to upsetting Henin-Hardenne on Saturday. But that grueling two-hour, 45-minute semifinal clearly took its toll on the Frenchwoman.
"I think mentally and physically it took a lot out of her," Davenport said. "I knew going in that that would be the case... I just tried to take advantage of that."
Still, Mauresmo didn't go quietly. She won three straight games to tighten the first set, then fought off match point twice before Davenport finally closed out her second title of 2004.
"I was very tired, plus she was very aggressive and didn't give me much time to do what I wanted to do," said Mauresmo, who earned $47,800 in her first tournament since a 10-week absence with a back injury that forced her out of the Australian Open quarterfinals.
"But it give me a lot of confidence to play as well as I did," Mauresmo added. "I just want to keep improving."
However, Mauresmo later withdrew from this week's Family Circle Cup, citing a back strain.
Davenport, who owns three Grand Slam singles titles, also won this tournament in 1997 and was the runner-up last year.
AP NEWS
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