Thursday February 10 4:19 PM ET
PARIS (AP) - Amelie Mauresmo, last year's losing finalist, was upset by French compatriot Sarah Pitkowski 0-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2 in the second round of the $537,000 Paris Open Thursday.
Pitkowski won in 2 hours, 10 minutes, on her third match point, advancing to the quarterfinals when Mauresmo double-faulted.
Seeded fifth, Mauresmo cruised through the first set in 20 minutes, then served for the match at 5-3 in the second set. Rushing her shots, she dropped serve to 15 on errors.
Mauresmo then held a match-point with advantage on Pitkowski's serve at 6-5, but netted a forehand.
``That was the match right there,'' Mauresmo said. ``I just wasn't able to keep moving forward into my shots. Mental weakness was 80 percent of my defeat.''
Mauresmo's game disintegrated after the second-set tie-breaker. When Pitkowski, a scrambler, reeled off seven straight points to take the tiebreaker, six of them were on Mauresmo errors.
``From the middle of the second set, I just went into a zone,'' Pitkowski said.
Ranked 39th, Pitkowski will meet top-seed and defending champion Serena Williams in the quarterfinals.
Nathalie Dechy, also from France and a semifinalist last year, reached the quarterfinals with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Italy's Silvia Farina.
Dechy will meet third seeded Julie Halard-Decugis, also of France.
In other second-round matches, Irina Spirlea of Romania beat Anna Smashnova of Israel 6-4, 6-2, and second-seed Nathalie Tauziat defeated Belgian wild card Justine Henin 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.
Anna Kournikova, seeded fourth, rallied from 1-5 down in the first set to defeat Anne Kremer of Luxembourg 7-6 (2), 6-2.