Tricky Mauresmo Trips Up Van Roost
(www.ausopen.org)
Tuesday, 26 January, 1999

Playing a brilliant cat-and-mouse game that belied her 19 years, France's Amélie Mauresmo spun No. 11 seed Dominique Van Roost of Belgium off the court in a 6-3, 7-6(3) quarter final triumph at the Australian Open on Tuesday.

"All the conditions are coming together for me to play well here," said Mauresmo, who reached her first Grand Slam semi final. "It's easier here than in Paris because there's not as much pressure. I'm with my little team and it's going well."

Mixing powerful one-handed backhand blasts with a precise first serve and rolling topspin forehand, the sandy-haired, ponytailed blonde confused the 25-year-old Van Roost, who committed 44 unforced errors and appeared nervous in attempting to gain her first Grand Slam semi final. But Van Roost said she played well and was simply out-hit.

"She played an amazing match," Van Roost said. "She didn't miss one ball from the baseline and returned just too hard. She was very powerful the whole match. I expected that she might have some games where she was starting to make some mistakes because she was nervous ... but she played well all the times when it was important."

Mauresmo said her strategy was to keep Van Roost guessing. "I didn't want to let her play the same shot twice," she said. "She could never really get into the match."

Despite not playing up to form, Van Roost gutted her way into the second set tiebreaker, but couldn't produce a winner and watched Mauresmo crunch a forehand approach shot to take the match.

"She forced me into the errors," Van Roost said. "When you see her running all around the court and getting everything back, it's hard ... She just played unbelievable in the tiebreak."

Van Roost had toppled Mauresmo the last time the two played, but said that the Frenchwoman had made tremendous strides since then. "She's improved a lot, especially mentally," Van Roost said.

"I saw her play her last match [against Frenchwoman Emilie Loit] and at the end she was starting to get scared to win. But today she wasn't scared at all."

Mauresmo agreed, "That's true because it's always tough to play another French player. But today I corrected that."

Not content to trade baseline blasts with hard-hitting Van Roost, Mauresmo slid into net 20 times, blending slice and topspin approaches. An excellent athlete with swimmer's shoulders and a weightlifter's biceps, Mauresmo considers herself on of the best conditioned players on the Tour.

"Because of my strength I'm not intimidated by anyone," she said.

The right-handed Mauresmo, who owns victories over Lindsay Davenport and Jana Novotna, will play the winner of the Davenport-Venus Williams quarter final. "I think [Mauresmo] has a chance to win," Van Roost said.

Yahoo - Report
(www.yahoo.com)
Tuesday, 26 January, 1999

With a who's who of elite players left in the women's draw, French teenager Amélie Mauresmo became an unknown among celebrities by advancing to her first Grand Slam semifinal at the $8.1 million Australian Open at Melbourne Park.

Competing in just her second Australian Open, the 19-year-old Mauresmo took advantage of an error-prone Dominique Van Roost in posting a 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) victory over the 11th-seeded Belgian on Tuesday (tonight in the United States). Ranked 29th in the world, Mauresmo awaits the winner of today's all-American duel between No. 1 Lindsay Davenport and No. 5 Venus Williams.

Mauresmo won 81 percent of points on her first serve and capitalized on 44 unforced errors by Van Roost as she prevailed in 96 minutes.

"I was expecting maybe a good tournament, but not as good as this," said Mauresmo. "I'm glad that it came at this tournament, and I hope it's not going to stop."

Mauresmo has eliminated two seeds -- eighth seed Patty Schnyder and Van Roost -- while dropping just two sets.

But she knows what she has to do against either Davenport or Williams. "I think they both play about the same game," said Mauresmo. "They hit the ball really, really hard and they are tough on the baseline. I just have to play like today and mix it up a little bit." Last year, Mauresmo advanced to her first WTA Tour final at the German Open, becoming the first qualifier at an event with prize money of at least $1 million to advance to the final. She also extended Martina Hingis to three sets in the third round at the U.S. Open. In 1996, she captured the French Open and Wimbledon junior titles and was named world junior champion by the International Tennis Federation.