Tara Snyder's dream run at the 1999 US Open came to a hard-fought end Friday night at the hands of the tournament's 15th seed, Amelie Mauresmo 4-6, 3-6.

The 22-year-old from Kansas came out on the wrong end of the 87-minute baseline slugfest, but not before she had made a sizable impression on her French opponent and the partisan 20,000-strong crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Debuting on the tournament's showcase court, Snyder showed no signs of stage fright, slogging out intense 20-shot baseline duels with the one-time Grand Slam singles finalist, and falling only at the final hurdle in the first set, when she lost her serve at 4-4.

"I felt very confident from the first point. But after the second game, she found her rhythm, rather than me doing anything different," said Snyder, the 1995 Junior US Open singles champion.

One of seven American women in the third round of the Open, Snyder became frustrated in the early stages of the second set, losing her serve and with it, her confidence, in the fourth game. Appearing slightly fatigued, the American became tentative and her second serve winning percentage dropped to a glum 33 percent.

"She hits a very heavy ball, she played solid and didn't give me too many free points. But the game I took out there was the best I had today and so I'm not too disappointed," said the 53rd-ranked American, who reached her career best singles ranking (No. 33) after her first tour-level tournament win in Quebec City.

Mauresmo's experience on Grand Slam hard courts became increasingly evident (she won six straight matches at the Australian Open this year enroute to the final), and the 20-year-old Frenchwoman began to generate considerably more power from the baseline. She took the second set in 36 minutes.

"There was a big crowd out here tonight. They were great though, even though I was playing an American girl," said Mauresmo, who is playing in only her third event since the French Open where she strained ankle ligaments (and where she beat Snyder in the first round).

"My ankle feels perfect. I'm moving as well as I ever have," said Mauresmo, who began playing tennis at age six, after she was inspired by Yannick Noah's win at the 1983 French Open.

Mauresmo, a former French Open and Wimbledon junior singles champion, is competing in her second US Open (in her first appearance last year she stretched Martina Hingis to three sets before bowing out in the third round) and will now face Germany's Anke Huber in the round of 16.