Pierce eases to 2nd Kremlin Cup Crown

MOSCOW—Mary Pierce won her second Kremlin Cup title Sunday, beating Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6-4, 6-3.
Pierce, who also captured this tournament in 1998, won her 30th career title. The Frenchwoman will move to No. 5 in the WTA Tour rankings for the first time since October 2000, when an injury forced her to quit in the fourth round of the US Open and miss the rest of the season.
Schiavone, ranked 22nd, had upset second-seeded Amelie Mauresmo, eighth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva on the way to her fourth career final on the tour.
The Italian, who had not dropped a set in her four matches, was broken twice in the first set, giving Pierce a 4-1 lead. Schiavone broke back in the eighth game and had a break point at deuce in the 10th, but Pierce served three winners to take the set.
“She has done so well this week and had great success, so it wasn’t easy,” Pierce said. “In the beginning she played really well. I didn’t play great tennis but I had some good shots and it was important for me to play smart”.
After an exchange of breaks, Pierce broke the Italian in the fifth game of the second set and sealed the win with an overhead smash on her first match point.
“She made a great job today,” Schiavone said. “She put so much pressure on me and didn’t give a chance to come back”.
Pierce will move her into fourth place in the race for the season-ending WTA Tour Championships in Los Angeles in November. US Open champion Kim Clijsters, Lindsay Davenport and top-ranked Maria Sharapova already are in the field.—Agencies