Second seed Kim Clijsters came back from the brink of defeat at the Rome Masters on Sunday to beat Amelie Mauresmo 3-6, 7-6, 6-0 in the final and win her third title of the year.
The result ended an impressive run by Frenchwoman Mauresmo, who had claimed the scalps of fifth seed Jennifer Capriati and world number one Serena Williams on her way to the final, and added to tournament wins in Sydney and Indian Wells for the 19-year-old Clijsters.
Serving at 6-5 and 30-15 in the second set, Mauresmo stood just two points from victory, but two unforced errors and a remarkable drive volley winner from the back of the court by the Belgian forced a tiebreak, which she won easily before running away with the decider.
"If she'd played really well on those two points, she would have won it, but I just made her work hard on them," the second seed told reporters.
"At the beginning my movement round the court wasn't good. I didn't know how to take her shots -- whether to step into them or stand back more. I was thinking too much about how I should play."
"When she asked for those 10 minutes break (at the end of the second set), I knew she was feeling tired from yesterday's match."
Fourth seed Mauresmo started perfectly, dragging her opponent round the court with heavy groundstrokes. In the sixth game she seized her chance to break, flicking a forehand past Clijsters at the net to go 4-2 up before wrapping up the first set in 32 minutes.
The Belgian twice recovered from a break down in the second set before taking the tiebreak to change the balance of the match.
TEMPERATURES SOAR
After a short break because of the heat -- the temperature had risen to 27 degrees centigrade with high humidity -- the players returned but Mauresmo appeared to be tiring as her game unravelled, allowing Clijsters to break in the first, third and fifth games to race through the decider.
The result was a blow for Mauresmo, who had already been runner-up in Rome twice, in 2000 and 2001.
"What can I say? Yeah, of course it's disappointing. I felt I could win the match," Mauresmo told reporters.
"I was pushing, pushing, pushing, so it wasn't a surprise to me that suddenly I didn't have any energy (at the beginning of the third set).
"I knew it was going to be tough. She had an easier (semi-final) match yesterday but that's tennis."
"I took every opportunity I had. I don't regret anything. You've got to give her credit for staying in the match and winning it."
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