Amelie Mauresmo celebrates after defeating Maria
Sharapova in the semi-final the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in
southwest London. (AFP
Photo) |
LONDON, July 6 (Xinhua) -- World number one Amelie Mauresmo battled her way into her first Wimbledon final by beating 2004 champion Maria Sharapova 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 here on Thursday.
Mauresmo came back from a disastrous second set to secure her place for Saturday's final against Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium.
The French player proved to be a hard nut for the 19-year-old Sharapova.
Mauresmo seemed in her best form in the first set this afternoon, leading 6-3, 3-1 before Sharapova, a very challenging player by nature, fought her way back.
Two things had changed in Sharapova: she was not missing her shots, and she was upping the decibel count, shrieking her way through every point. Meantime the Mauresmo serve was sinking fast.
But Mauresmo regained her game in the decider and held on for the victory.
Henin-Hardenne reaches Wimbledon
final
Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne is closing in on a career
Grand Slam after beating her compatriot Kim Clijsters 6-4, 7-6 (4) to reach the
Wimbledon final here on Thursday.
Henin-Hardenne lost her only Wimbledon final to Venus
Williams in 2001 but now she has a chance to complete her collections of grand
slam titles.
In the final the third-seeded Henin-Hardenne will
face No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo, who beat Russian Maria Sharapova 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 to
reach the final.
Second seed Clijsters has now fallen at the
semi-final stage of all three grand slams tournaments this year.
She has also lost her last five grand slam meetings
with Henin-Hardenne, including the semi-final at Roland Garros last month.
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