Wednesday January 19 3:33 AM ET
By JOHN PYE Associated Press Writer
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - From an unknown finalist and target of nasty slurs, she rose to become a crowd favorite and top contender.
The burden proved too much for Amelie Mauresmo today at the Australian Open, the tournament that served as her launching pad to fame last year.
After beating No. 5 Mary Pierce, No. 1 Martina Hingis and No. 2 Lindsay Davenport en route to a tournament title in Sydney last week, Mauresmo jumped to a career-best No. 6 world ranking. She was one of the favorites to win the Australian Open.
Instead, she made a quick exit, losing 6-4, 6-4 to Patty Schnyder in a rematch of last year's second round.
``I feel that the other players really want to beat me more now than in the past,'' said Mauresmo, who entered last year's Australian as a 19-year-old relative unknown and, at No. 29, became the lowest-ranked finalist in two decades, only to lose to Hingis.
The seventh-seeded Mauresmo had trouble with Schnyder's heavy topspin and committed 48 unforced errors.
Schnyder, named the WTA Tour's most improved player of 1998, rose as high as No. 8 last year before sliding to No. 41. The 21-year-old Swiss said edging Mauresmo pulled her out of ``a 10-month bad spell.''
You can't compare the two Grand Slam head-to-heads, Schnyder says, ``It wasn't the same conditions. She is a seeded player (this year) and had to defend points. I'm unseeded.''
``I think she is one of the greatest players at the moment. It's just a great win for me.''
``Every part of my game was down today - my moving, my forehand, my backhand, everything,'' Mauresmo said. ``It's one of those days you should stay in bed.''
Going into a tournament as a favorite takes time to get used to, she said.
``People like Davenport and Hingis are much more used to winning tournaments and then just rolling on through the next one and not letting their games drop,'' she added.
``I'm not used to that and that's why I just didn't have the intensity I had last week. I just hope I'm going to get used to the business of winning a title and then not falling away the next week.''
While the pressure is new, heavy media attention has become a fact of life.
``I got used to it a little bit last year, and no it didn't bother me,'' she said.
Mauresmo's campaign last year was overshadowed by off-court issues, her open homosexuality and her strong physique attracting more attention than her game.
Hingis, then ranked No. 2 in the world, described Mauresmo as ``half a man.''
After losing a semifinal to the former world junior No. 1, Davenport said Mauresmo could hit the ball almost as hard as a man.
But Mauresmo rejected the notion that she's one of the hardest hitters in women's tennis and that the fast-paced courts at Melbourne Park should suit her game.
``These courts are better for flat hitters like Davenport, Pierce and the Williams sisters, not for people who like to work the ball,'' she said. ``I prefer to play variation and topspin and I'm not a really heavy hitter.''
Mauresmo last year reversed her Australian Open defeat at the Paris Indoors, where she edged Hingis in the semifinals before losing to Serena Williams in a third-set tiebreaker.
But her season was interrupted by a series of injuries before she clinched her first WTA title, winning in Bratislava in October and finishing the year ranked No. 9.