Mauresmo takes title at Wimbledon

Amelie Mauresmo claimed her second Grand Slam title of the year with a hard-fought victory over Justine Henin-Hardenne at Wimbledon.

Mauresmo recovered from losing the opening set to win 2-6 6-3 6-4 and become the first French champion since Suzanne Lenglen won the last of her six titles in 1925.

The 27-year-old top seed also prevented Henin-Hardenne from becoming only the 10th woman to complete a career Grand Slam, and repeated her victory over the Belgian in January's Australian Open final.

It had looked an unlikely scenario after Henin-Hardenne had raced through the opening set as she looked to add the Wimbledon title to her French Open crown without dropping a set in 14 matches.

The 24-year-old Belgian broke in the opening game of the match on Centre Court and after saving a break point in the sixth game to maintain her advantage, then made sure of the set with a second break.

Mauresmo is renowned for struggling to overcome her nerves on the big occasion, and the crowd must have feared the match would become a distinctly one-sided affair.

But the 27-year-old Frenchwoman made a storming start to the second set, breaking Henin-Hardenne to race into a 3-0 lead and holding a point to make it 4-0.

Henin-Hardenne dug deep to remain in touch at 3-1 and crucially saved another break point to avoid going 5-1 behind, and that looked like being a turning point when she broke in the seventh game to trail just 4-3.

But in a see-saw contest, Mauresmo immediately broke back to earn the chance to serve out for the set, and the top seed saved three more break points before eventually firing down her fourth ace to take it 6-3 and level the match.

The momentum was now firmly with Mauresmo and the world number one raced into a 3-1 lead in the decider as Henin-Hardenne committed a string of unforced errors.

Saving a break point in the fifth game at least kept Henin-Hardenne in touch but Mauresmo had clearly taken great confidence from her semi-final victory over former champion Maria Sharapova, when she overcame a trademark stumble to win in three sets.

A superb serve and backhand volley set up Championship point and Henin-Hardenne then netted a simple forehand to give Mauresmo the title, prompting her to make the now traditional climb through the crowd to celebrate with her supporters in the players' box.