Amelie Mauresmo defeated Ai Sugiyama 6-2 6-4

By Christopher N Rourke
October 30 2004

Amelie Mauresmo arrived looking tanned, her long mane of lightbrown hair used as a comforter during the questions at the press conference after her straightforward quarter-final win over Ai Sugiyama this afternoon.

She explained that she lost some focus in the second
set, allowing Ai to take the initiative but that she
always felt in control of what she was doing on court.


Asked about how she felt about her next [semi final]
opponent, the richly talented Jelena Jankovic, whether
she would view a tape of her performance against Vera
Zvonereva, or whether she would focus on her own game.
She said that she would not watch the match, that she
would instead talk to her coach Louis Courteau, who
had watched the match closely.


I pointed out that Jankovic had unleashed a dazzling
selection of shots today, and that she [Amelie] may be
facing a tough competitor. I also mentioned that her
match against Marta was anything but simple,
especially in the first, highly competitive set. She
agreed, but pointed out that young players arriving on
the Tour often ‘start off very strong’ but then find
it difficult to maintain that level, unable to retain
consistency throughout an entire match. She didn’t
seem overly concerned about tomorrow’s match ­ though
I think she may be startled by Jankovic’s ability.


A large bottle of wine was presented to Amelie as gift
from the tournament director at Linz. Amelie seemed
very delighted but insisted that she would not be able
to drink any of the wine while playing at the
tournament!