Amelie Mauresmo wins Rome title.

By Etienne Stekelenburg
May 17 2004

After winning the Ladies German Open final with a walkover Amelie Mauresmo had to put up a tense battle against Jennifer Capriati at the Italian Open final in Rome. No. 2 seed Mauresmo fought off one match point and came back to win the Italian Open Title.

After American Jennifer Capriati won the first set 6-3 it looked like she was going to win the second set as well. Amelie Mauresmo found the strength to come back into the match and won the second set with the same score to tie the match one all.

In the decisive third set Jennifer Capriati held match point after she was leading 5-4 on Mauresmo’s serve. Capriati hit the forehand shot long and did not take the chance to take the title.

Mauresmo found a way to tie the set 6 all and took her chance in the tiebreak winning it 8-6. Capriati had saved a match point against her by hitting a solid crosscourt winner. The American who was hammered by Mauresmo 6-2 6-0 previous week in Berlin put the next shot into the net.

Mauresmo did not let her second chance for the title slip away. Capriati unwillingly helped the French woman by pushing her backhand shot wide.

“It was fourth time lucky”, Mauresmo said who lost previous three finals in Rome. "It was a very difficult match. I had the sense that the match changed at the beginning of the second set when I came out more aggressively, but it could have gone either way".

"This is my second success in a row. Next week I'm going to continue to train and hope everything goes well at Roland Garros."