It may have taken three and a quarter hours and five match points but Amelie Mauresmo finally saw off the challenge of compatriot Julie Coin to move into the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International on Wednesday.
Mauresmo, of France, joined countrywoman Marion Bartoli in the last eight when she beat Coin 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (13/11) in a superb second round clash that belied the difference in class and experience between the two players.
The match was the longest of Mauresmo's career, eclipsing the three hours seven minutes she took to beat Mary Pierce in the final of the 2005 Tour Championship.
The final set lasted 89 minutes alone as Mauresmo came from 2-5 down to force a tiebreak.
"I said to myself it's only one break of serve so if I can win my serve and put a bit of pressure on hers, you know it could happen that I go back to five-all, which it did," she said.
Mauresmo had five match points in the tiebreak and Coin three, with the result in doubt right up until the moment Coin hit a backhand long over the baseline.
Mauresmo and Coin used to share the same coach growing up but as the 29-year-old Mauresmo went on to a glittering career including two Grand Slam titles and a stint at No.1, Coin, three years her junior, moved to the US and studied mathematics at Clemson University.
Coin's tour results were so poor in 2008 that she was close to giving up until she beat then world No.1 Ana Ivanovic on the way to reaching the third round of the US Open, where ironically she was beaten by Mauresmo.
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