Tennis-Mauresmo survives fright in all-French battle

PARIS, May 31 (Reuters) Former world number one Amelie Mauresmo was in danger of another early French Open exit before recovering to beat fellow Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy 6-3 6-7 6-1 in a rain-hit second-round match today.

Fifth seed Mauresmo, making her 13th consecutive appearance in her home grand slam event where she has never gone beyond the quarter-finals, made a promising start, taking the first set in just 39 minutes.

Dechy, however, staged a comeback in the second set, breaking her opponent straight away and going on to lead 5-2.

Former world number 11 Dechy, who has dropped to 46th after a poor run of form, served for the set but was broken.

Mauresmo carried on to force a tie break, in which she was 4-2 down when rain halted play for nearly two hours.

When play resumed, Dechy won the tiebreak 7-3, Mauresmo netting a backhand on set point.

Dechy broke Mauresmo in the opening game of the decisive set but then collapsed, losing six games in a row and bowing out when Mauresmo fired a service winner on the second match point after two hours and 17 minutes of play.

Wimbledon champion Mauresmo, 27, who returned earlier this month after being out for two months due to appendicitis, goes on to meet Czech Lucie Safarova.

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