Tennis: Unseeded Amelie powers through

By Foster Niumata

MELBOURNE - "It's a secret," Amelie Mauresmo said with a great smile.

This was in a press conference, and Mauresmo had just been asked what had she done to build up a body straight out of a Wonder Woman comic.

Going on, the 19-year-old Frenchwoman said an hour a day in the gym had helped to develop shoulders as broad as a baguette is long, and muscles prominent from her navy blue sleeveless shirt and shorts.

Confidence from such power yesterday made Mauresmo the Australian Open's first unseeded woman semifinalist in four years, and unintimidated by the prospect of facing one of two other GI Janes, No 1 Lindsay Davenport or No 5 Venus Williams, who were playing each other overnight.

Asked to compare her strength against both, Mauresmo said: "I'm the same, maybe better."

No 12 Dominique van Roost gave Mauresmo a chance against either.

Auckland finalist van Roost, blasted out 6-3 7-6 by 29th-ranked Mauresmo in a compelling quarter-final under a drizzly grey sky, said: "In the second set I played perfect and she was just overpowering."

Mauresmo is delivering on what marked her as the most promising of the new generation of Frenchwomen. It's a revolution if you like. Of 11 starters, four reached the fourth round, two the quarters, and maybe two in the semis if No 7 Mary Pierce can uphold her 5-4 edge over No 2 Martina Hingis today.

Mauresmo, the only unseeded quarter-finalist, came out of the draw which had eighth seed Patty Schnyder, whom she beat, and ninth seed Conchita Martinez, whom Mauresmo's countrywoman Emilie Loit defeated.

"I was expecting a good tournament, but not this good: I hope it's not going to stop," Mauresmo said.

One reason she has broken through is because she is a long way from Paris, where expectations have weighed too heavy on those broad shoulders.

She wasn't quite four when she first considered tennis while watching Yannick Noah win the French Open in 1983. She was the junior world champion in 1996, winner of the Junior French Open and Wimbledon, and soon after replaced her glasses with contacts.

Last year she had top-10 wins over Davenport, Jana Novotna and Nathalie Tauziat, and gave Hingis two hurry-ups that made her believe nobody was unbeatable.
Thomas Enqvist has that feeling now too.

"When I step on court I've been feeling like I could beat anybody in the world," said the Swede, whose follow-up to wiping out local drawcards Pat Rafter and Mark Philippoussis was to advance further into uncharted territory when he pasted Marc Rosset 6-3 6-4 6-4.

"It's a dfferent story to do it a lot of matches in a row, and so far in my career I have beaten a lot of good players but haven't really followed it up. That's what I'm hoping to do this week."

Enqvist is looking at a probable semifinal with seventh seed Karol Kucera, who was expected to deal with Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti overnight. Enqvist beat Kucera last time they met and is confident.

"He's a sneaky player, Kucera," said Enqvist. "He doesn't hit the ball that hard but he's extremely fast and mixes up his game. I've beaten him and hopefully I can play the same kind of tennis."

Pictured: Amelie Mauresmo on her way to beating Dominique van Roost in the Australian Open.