Mauresmo survives scare

THE women's 2006 champion Amelie Mauresmo had the fright of her life today trying to negotiate her way through second round of the Australian Open.

The Frenchwoman will face Perth giant-killer Casey Dellacqua in the third round.

Mauresmo, 28, was finding it hard to subdue her far less experienced opponent, 20-year-old Russian Yaroslava Shvedova, out on Margaret Court Arena squandering seven match points in the 10th game of the second set before serving consecutive double faults on here eighth and ninth in the tiebreaker.

But finally the Frenchwoman forced a mistake by Shvedova on the 10th match point to win 6-4 7-6(5).

“It is definitely a relief to win this match. I think a lack of confidence and lack of matches showed today,” said Mauresmo, who had her right thigh heavily strapped.

After reaching the quarter-finals at the Gold Coast, she withdrew from Sydney with a right adductor muscle strain _ the same injury that kept her out of lasst season for nine weeks.

But she hung tough today and she knows it could be the result that kick-starts her 10th Australian Open campaign.

“Sometimes these kind of matches are helpful because you get that little `click' to go to the next level,” Mauresmo said.