Sport

Mauresmo errors prove costly

TENNIS US OPEN: AMELIE MAURESMO'S US Open hopes ended in a clutch of double-faults and a 6-3, 6-0 hammering by Italian Flavia…

Tue Sept 02 2008 - 01:00

TENNIS US OPEN:AMELIE MAURESMO'S US Open hopes ended in a clutch of double-faults and a 6-3, 6-0 hammering by Italian Flavia Pennetta in the fourth round yesterday.

The 29-year-old coughed up 14 doubles and 40 unforced errors to help 16th seed Pennetta reach her first grand slam quarter-final.

"I think the conditions were pretty windy out there today," Mauresmo told reporters when asked why she had struggled so badly on serve. "It's definitely something that we will try to analyse and work on for the next tournaments."

After an injury-hit year, Mauresmo had recently shown signs of the form that took her to the top of the rankings in 2006 but her serve was appalling from the start.

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Once Pennetta had broken a second time to lead 4-3 in the first set, she was in total command and eased through to a showdown with Russian sixth seed Dinara Safina.

A pep talk from coach Zeljko Krajan rescued an exhausted Safinas US Open dreams yesterday. Safinas pursuit of a maiden grand slam title gathered momentum when she defeated German qualifier Anna-Lena Groenefeld 7-5, 6-0 but the teary-eyed Russian later revealed she almost did not make it to court for the fourth-round match.

I didnt expect to win (today) because I was just so exhausted, said the Russian sixth seed, who has reached six finals in her last seven tournaments.

I finished the warm-up and I just said, I cannot push myself anymore. I could not stop from crying.

(My coach) said, We know that youre not a machine. Just go on the court and do whatever you can this day. If its 20 per cent left in your body, just give this 20 percent.

Dont use another per cent just throwing the balls around and shouting. Whatever you have, just try to concentrate and put it into the game. So thats what I did today.

Krajans words of wisdom certainly paid dividends. Groenefeld tried her best to rattle Safina when she stormed back from 4-2 down in the opening set to level at 5-5. But that ended up being the last game the 141st-ranked Groenefeld won as Safina stayed calm and pounded down a string of sizzling groundstrokes to win in 75 minutes.