Home favourite Amelie Mauresmo beat Elena Dementieva to claim her first tournament victory for two years at the Paris Open.
Paris title for resurgent Frenchwoman
Amelie Mauresmo completed a stunning return to form with a 7-6 (9-7) 2-6 6-4 victory over Elena Dementieva in the Paris Open final.
Mauresmo, a former world number one who had slipped to 24th in the rankings due to combination of injury and poor form, captured her first WTA Tour title for two years in impressive fashion.
Dementieva, the world number four, was her third top 10 victim of the week after successes against Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarter-finals and Jelena Jankovic in the last four.
"I have had hard times. I did some soul searching by the end of last year and there is a new dynamic, a good preparation during the winter," said the 29-year-old, who won the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2006 before falling into a slump.
Tough
"My goal was to win a tournament this year. The first set was very tough physically.
"In the second, I did not panic, I was not stressed at all. I knew I had what it takes to win this match."
Olympic champion Dementieva opened a 4-2 lead in a tense opening set but Mauresmo broke back to level at 5-5 and went on to force a tie-break.
The Frenchwoman saved a set point before prevailing 9-7 on her second chance with a service winner after 76 minutes.
Fight back
Dementieva, however, dominated the second set - including a run of five straight games - to take the contest into decider.
With the backing of a 4,000 crowd, Mauresmo secured two breaks as Dementieva, who started the season with titles in Auckland and Sydney, made a series of unforced errors.
The Russian did manage to pull back a break but Mauresmo clinched victory in two hours and 38 minutes on her second match point before bursting into tears.
