2004–2005
After a few quiet years on the tour, Pierce won her first title since the 2000 French Open at the Ordina Open on grass, in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands in 2004. At the Olympics in Athens, Pierce defeated sixth-seeded Venus Williams in the third round 6–4, 6–4 before losing to top-seeded and eventual Gold-medallist Justine Henin of Belgium in the quarterfinals by the same score. At the US Open later in the year, Pierce defeated the new Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova.
Pierce then made it back into the top ranks of the women's game in 2005. At the French Open, she reached the singles final for the third time, where she lost to Henin in straight sets in a crushing 6–1 6–1 defeat. She then reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon for the first time since 1996. Pierce faced Venus Williams in that quarterfinal and lost the match after a second set tiebreak consisting of 22 points. Pierce also won the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon, partnering Mahesh Bhupathi. In August, Pierce won her first singles title of the year at the Acura Classic in San Diego, defeating Ai Sugiyama in the final.
Pierce then reached the final of the 2005 US Open. In the fourth round, she defeated Henin for the first time in her career 6–3, 6–4. In the quarterfinals, Pierce defeated third seeded Amélie Mauresmo 6–4, 6–1 to reach her first US Open semifinal. After the victory, Pierce remarked, "I'm 30 and I have been on the tour for 17 years and there are still firsts for me. That's pretty amazing." She reached the final by defeating Elena Dementieva 3–6, 6–2, 6–2 in the semifinals, taking a medical time-out after the first set. This caused controversy, many believing that this disrupted Dementieva's rhythm and concentration. In the final, she lost to Kim Clijsters in straight sets. After the US Open, Pierce won her second title of the year at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. In her quarterfinal match against Russian Elena Likhovtseva, Pierce came back from 0–6 in the third set tiebreak (6 match points down) and won 8 consecutive points to reach the semifinals. The final score of the match was 7–5, 4–6, 7–6.
The win in Moscow secured her spot at the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Los Angeles where the top eight singles players in the world competed for the winner's prize of one million dollars. In round-robin play with her assigned group of four players, she won all three matches: against Clijsters in three sets; Mauresmo in three sets; and Dementieva in straight sets. In the semifinals, Pierce beat top-ranked Lindsay Davenport 7–6, 7–6; however, Pierce lost the final to Mauresmo in just over three hours.
Pierce's year-end ranking was World No. 5 compared to her year-beginning ranking of World No. 29. This matched her career-best performances of 1994, 1995, and 1999, and she was less than 200 points behind Sharapova for World No. 4 and less than 300 points behind Mauresmo for World No. 3. Pierce's return to form in 2005 was one of the most surprising tennis stories of the year. Her successful performance in 2005 also encouraged the former World No. 1 player, Martina Hingis, to return to the game.
Read more about this topic: Mary Pierce