Tennis: Amelie Mauresmo beat Justine Henin-Hardenne to win the Wimbledon women's singles title for the first time.
The French woman looked in big trouble when she lost the first set 6-2 but she roared back in great style to take the second 6-3. And with pressure really on she grabbed a break and held her nerve to win the decider 6-4.
Henin-Hardenne was quick to gain the upper hand in the early stages. The Belgian, looking to become only the 10th woman to complete a career Grand Slam, broke serve in the opening game on Centre Court.
The 24-year-old had to save a break point in the sixth game to maintain her advantage, but then made sure of the set with a second break for a 5-2 lead.
The French Open champion, on a streak of 13 Grand Slam match wins without dropping a set, then served out with her first ace of the match to take it 6-2 after 31 minutes.
Mauresmo is renowned for struggling to overcome her nerves on the big occasion, and the crowd must have feared the match would become a distinctly one-sided affair.
But the 27-year-old Frenchwoman made a storming start to the second set, breaking Henin-Hardenne to race into a 3-0 lead and holding a point to make it 4-0.
Henin-Hardenne dug deep to remain in touch at 3-1 and crucially saved another break point to avoid going 5-1 behind, and that looked like being a turning point when she broke in the seventh game to trail just 4-3.
But in a see-saw contest, Mauresmo immediately broke back to earn the chance to serve out for the set, and the top seed saved three more break points before eventually firing down her fourth ace to take it 6-3 and level the match.
The momentum was now firmly with Mauresmo and the world number one raced into a 3-1 lead in the decider as Henin-Hardenne committed a string of unforced errors.
Saving a break point in the fifth game at least kept Henin-Hardenne in touch but Mauresmo had clearly taken great confidence from her semi-final victory over former champion Maria Sharapova, when she overcame a trademark stumble to win in three sets.
A superb serve and backhand volley set up Championship point and Henin-Hardenne then netted a simple forehand to give Mauresmo the title with a 2-6 6-3 6-4 victory in just over two hours. PA