ROME, May 11: France's Mary Pierce won the Italian Open tennis tournament here today, when she beat defending champion Conchita Martinez of Spain 6-4, 6-0 -- halting the Spaniard's hopes of a fifth successive Italian title.

The 22-year-old Pierce, who had knocked out top seed Monica Seles earlier in the week, made few mistakes and used her powerful groundstrokes to good effect.

Martinez, 25, needed regular physiotherapy for an apparent muscle problem around the nape of her neck and the right shoulder blade.

The treatment started in the fifth game after the Spanish third seed had managed to break for a 3-2 lead when Pierce sent a forehand wide.

However, Martinez surrendered her own service in the following game when she netted a backhand and slipped again to trail 3-5.

Pierce netted an easy slice at point blank range for 4-5 but the Canadian-born Frenchwoman broke back immediately to seal the set when Martinez drove a barrelling forehand straight into the net.

Martinez was a shadow of her usual self in the second set.

She was unable to move or strike the ball with any power or conviction, allowing the 10th seed to seal the match to love with precious little resistance after 70 minutes.

Bjorkman in final

CORAL SPRINGS: Jonas Bjorkman, going three sets for the first time in the tournament, beat Steve Campbell 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to move into the final of the Red Clay Championship.

Campbell, a Detroit native playing in his first career ATP semifinal, had been the story of the week at the Coral Springs Tennis Center. After beating Jim Courier in Atlanta a week ago, Campbell looked strong and quick, posting victories over Vince Spadea, Byron Black and Sargis Sargsian to advance.

But his story book run came to a halt yesterday against Bjorkman in 1 hour, 42 minutes.

Bjorkman, the top seed and ranked 23rd in the world, today will face the winner of the late semifinal between defending tournament champion Jason Stoltenberg of Australia and Johan van Herck of Belgium.

Campbell's power game gave Bjorkman fits early in the match, though he claimed he was never in control.

Campbell struggled mightily in his return game, winning only seven of 45 first-return points.

Campbell was able to break Bjorkman at 4-3 in the first and he closed out the set in 33 minutes when Campbell netted a cross-court return.

Barely more than a week since being upset by Sandon Stolle as the No 2 seed in Atlanta, Bjorkman looked dominant through much of the week.

The Swede had ten aces to Campbell's five.

In the sixth game of the second set, Campbell broke to go up 4-2. Bjorkman had three double faults in the game.

But in the final set, Bjorkman's serve and volley style began to wear down Campbell, who struggled when forced to leave the baseline for the net.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.