Amelie Mauresmo became the first Frenchwoman in 81 years to win the Wimbledon singles title when she conquered a severe bout of stagefright to beat Belgium's Justine Henin-Hardenne 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday.
The 27-year-old's victory was also her second career Grand Slam victory and was the first step towards what could be a memorable weekend for French sport with France facing Italy in the World Cup final in Berlin on Sunday.
Mauresmo was blown off Centre Court in the first set before she recovered to claim a victory which will be more satisfying after her Australian Open win in January was tainted by Henin-Hardenne's decision to pull out injured in the second set of that final.
It also broke France's long, long wait for a women's champion here after Suzanne Lenglen won the last of her six titles in 1925. Defeat meant that Henin-Hardenne failed, for now, to become only the 10th woman in history to win all four Grand Slam titles. Mauresmo endured the worst possible start. After winning the toss and electing to serve, the 27-year-old was broken by a fired-up Henin-Hardenne.
The Frenchwoman squandered a chance to break back in the sixth game and Henin-Hardenne then made her pay with two stunning backhands which gave her a second break of the opening set and a 5-2 lead. Henin-Hardenne quickly went to three set points and took the opener 6-2 with a thunderous ace after just 31 minutes of one-sided action. However, the Belgian went dramatically off the boil at the start of the second set and dropped serve in the second game to slip 0-2 down which soon became 0-3 as the Frenchwoman started to find her range with her serve-and-volley game.
Mauresmo wasted two more chances to break again in the fourth and sixth games and Henin-Hardenne took full advantage with a break back to trail 3-4. Mauresmo, so often let down by a brittle temperament, hit back straightaway to lead 5-3 and held her nerve against three further break points to take the second set 6-3 with a fourth ace to level the final after 80 minutes of action. The French wine lover was quickly in charge in the decider leaping into a 2-1 lead as Henin-Hardenne saw her own game fall apart.
That became 3-1 thanks to only her second love-service game of the final. She saved a break point in the fourth game before a sweet volley extended her lead to 4-2. Mauresmo kept her composure to take the title when Henin-Hardenne netted a forehand after 2hr 2min of action.
RESULTS WOMEN'S SINGLES FINAL: Amelie Mauresmo (FRA x1) bt Justine Henin-Hardenne (BEL x3) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
BOYS SINGLES FINAL: Thiemo De Bakker (NED x1) bt Marcin Gawron (POL) 6-2, 7-6 (7/4)
GIRLS SINGLES FINAL: Caroline Wozniacki (DEN x4) bt Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK x6) 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.
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