Mauresmo brushes aside talk of nerves

WORLD number one Amelie Mauresmo feels she may have finally conquered her big-match nerves — just in time to do battle for the Wimbledon title with Justin Henin-Hardenne today.

The French top seed, who turned 27 earlier this week, had reached the semi-final stage in each of her last three visits to the All England Club, only to then fall short when in command of the match.

This year, however, Mauresmo maintained her composure to overcome both the challenge of former French Open champion Anastasia Myskina in the quarter-finals and then dug deep to see off the power game of 2004 Wimbledon winner Maria Sharapova in an epic encounter on Centre Court.