Pierce shocks Davenport to reach WTA Championships final

By Matthew Cronin

LOS ANGELES (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.