Pierce rallies as Schett steamrolls Sanchez

NOVEMBER 16: Mary Pierce rallied from a set and a break down to subdue Anna Kournikova and reach the quarter-finals of the two-million-do...

NOVEMBER 16: Mary Pierce rallied from a set and a break down to subdue Anna Kournikova and reach the quarter-finals of the two-million-dollar WTA Tour Chase Championships yesterday.

Up a set and a break, Kournikova failed to close out the match and endured a monumental third-set collapse as the fifth-seeded French player pulled out a 6-7 (3/7) 7-6 (7/5) 6-0 victory.

Former World number one Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario saw her disappointing season come to an abrupt end as seventh seed Barbara Schett of Austria posted a 6-1 6-4 victory over her.

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Kournikova won only six points in the entire third set and failed to win a point on her first serve. She also committed 12 unforced errors and got only 40 per cent of her first serves in during the decisive set.

Schett made an impressive debut in the WTA Tour finale that may have left veteran Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario wondering why she had bothered accepting the final singles berth.

Schett, one of four newcomers to the annual event for the year’s top 16 players, took just one hour to send the Spaniard packing. It could have been faster but for a second-set concentration lapse by the 23-year-old Austrian.

It was the third meeting between the two this year and the third win for Schett, who cracked the world’s top 10 for the first time in 1999 while Sanchez-Vicario was busy moving in the other direction. Sanchez-Vicario, who turns 28 next month, qualified only because after monica seles pulled out with a foot injury.