Pierce Does a Roman Number on Martinez

ROME —  Conchita Martinez of Spain had won the Italian Open a record four consecutive times, but a fifth title in a row was not to be as she lost to Mary Pierce, 6-4, 6-0, in Sunday’s final.

Martinez had won 24 Italian Open matches in a row before losing to Pierce.

“I don’t know what happened to Conchita. She was hurt,” Pierce said. “I couldn’t think about her problems. You can get in trouble that way.”

Martinez was bothered by a stiff neck, diagnosed later as a cervical muscle spasm.

Martinez said she started to feel the pain after taking a 3-2 lead in the first set.

“It hit me in that game. I couldn’t move my neck,” said sixth-ranked Martinez, who took an injury timeout at the changeover to be treated by a trainer.

Before Sunday, this tournament had belonged to Martinez, who sailed through four victories in only 16 games without losing a set.

But Sunday belonged to Pierce, who had vanished for three months at the end of last season.

“Nerve damage in my right shoulder,” she said. “I hurt it two years ago, not long after winning the Australian, but just kept playing. That was dumb. Finally I had to just rest or it wouldn’t get better. Then it did.”

Pierce is more American than anything else, but she is officially listed as the property of France, for whom she has played Federation Cup and the Olympics. Technically, she became only the second French player to win the Italian and the first since Ida Adamoff won it 65 years ago.

Adamoff got a bouquet of roses; Pierce an evergreen corsage and $150,000.

Appearing refreshed in Australia four months ago, Pierce made it to the final but lost to Hingis. She then fired another coach and decided to employ Craig Kardon, who was with Martina Navratilova the last few years. Kardon, a young man who specializes in soothing such highly-strung types, is “comforting,”

“It’s simple stuff, nothing new,” Pierce said. “Hard work. But Craig’s good at motivating.”

She also credits Mark Versteged of Bradenton, Fla., with improving her footwork.

“He’s a movement coach who’s worked with a lot of athletes, including NFL players,” she said.

Pierce’s battered psyche needs gentle care, and maybe she’s finding her way. Certainly this championship, based on the kind of rocketing ground strokes that kept Martinez groping, amounting to 22 winners of her 61 points, was a landmark. In the quarterfinals, she beat Monica Seles for the only time in four tries, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (8-6), canceling three set points in the first set, five in the second.

“That felt so good,” Pierce said. “We had to wait five hours through rain to get onto the court, late at night. It was cold and damp, the kind of match I can never concentrate on. Knowing that was good. I concentrated all the harder.”

Whatever you make of that statement, fans who came to the Il Foro Italico stadium to praise Martinez ended up saluting Pierce.