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It's been Amelie Mauresmo's year so far, and she has the chance at the US Open to match the feats of Serena Williams and Martina Hingis by winning three Grand Slam titles in the same year.
After a decade of underachievement and self-doubt, the 27-year-old French woman has finally brought together her physical fitness and mental toughness to emerge from the pack as the dominant player in women's tennis.
January saw her win her first Grand Slam title in Australia, and even though she once again inexplicably collapsed on home turf in the French Open in late May, she rebounded to record the greatest win of her career at Wimbledon a month later.
Mauresmo took time off after that triumph to soak up the moment and heal a troublesome shoulder injury.
But she returned to action at New Haven this week and says she is ready for Flushing Meadows, where she has reached the quarter-finals in each of the last five years.
This time around, she believes, she has the weapons to go further.
Analysing after her win in the Wimbledon final over Justine Henin-Hardenne and what had made the difference this year, Mauresmo admitted that there was no magic formula other than hard work.
"Things come when they have to come," she said.
"It seems that I finally found how maybe to handle the nerves a bit better, how my game is.
"I really know much more now how to play tennis than few years ago. I think everything is really coming together. The physical part of my game, as well."
Henin-Hardenne, whom Mauresmo also defeated in the Australian Open final and who won her third French Open in Paris, will be across the net from her in the final once again if the seedings are honoured.
But first the Geneva-based player will have to work her way through a tough quarter of the draw that curiously also contains the unseeded Serena Williams and comeback queen Hingis.
They were the last two players to win three Grand Slam titles in the same year - during 2002 for the American and 1997 for the Swiss.
The threat posed by 24-year-old Williams, winner of seven Grand Slam titles and an old nemesis of Mauresmo, is particularly hard to gauge.
A six-month spell on the sidelines to fully recover from a knee injury after the Australian Open sent her crashing out of the top 100 in the world rankings.
But the American has slowly been clawing her way back with semi-final runs at Cincinnati and Los Angeles in recent weeks and insists that her ambition and determination are intact.
"If I wasn't hungry, I wouldn't be playing, because I've done enough to be able to retire," she said recently.
"But that's never what I wanted. I love what I do and to hear the crowd roar, but I also like to hear the word, Action. It's exciting to be on court and it's something that really gets me pumped up.
"There's nothing better for me than playing tennis. I'm moving in the right direction. I hope I'm peaking (physically) for the Open."
Williams is not the only big name American hoping to rebound from injuries at New York.
Another former world No.1 and the 1998 US Open champion Lindsay Davenport knows that at 30 and with an apparently chronic back injury, she is playing on borrowed time.
But she has worked her way back into shape after being out of action since March, reaching the second round in her comeback tournament in Los Angeles earlier this month and also lining up at New Haven this week.
"I have no expectations to put on myself when I don't know where I'm at," she said in California.
"I feel excited, I feel a certain amount of fear though, not playing much lately. I know what to do, I just hope it clicks back into focus earlier rather than later."
Davenport would likely play Henin-Hardenne if she reaches the quarter-finals.
In the other two sections of the draw, Russian glamour girl Maria Sharapova looks to have a comfortable enough run into the last four, although last year's losing finalist Mary Pierce of France will be looking to put her injury woes behind her.
And Russia's fourth seeded Elena Dementieva is facing a tough second round assignment against the winner in 2000 and 2001, Venus Williams.
Title-holder Kim Clijsters of Belgium will not be defending having injured her left wrist while falling during a match in Montreal.
ak/bb
Tennis-USA-Open-women
AFP 242014 GMT 08 06
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