Erratic in dropping the opening set of yesterday's final in the $450,000 women's clay court tennis tournament, Pierce bounced back to dominate Conchita Martinez 6-7 (8-10), 6-0, 6-2 and win her second title this season.

Runner-up here the past two years, the 1995 Australian Open champion had vowed last spring to return to Amelia Island and take care of unfinished business.``It feels good,'' she said. ``Finally.''

For more than an hour, though, it looked like she might lose again.Pierce settled down after making 32 unforced errors in the first set, which she nevertheless was able to extend to a tie-breaker that took a toll on Martinez.

Pierce took control by becoming the aggressor, making a concerted effort to get to the net after playing most of the points from the baseline in the opening set.

She made the same adjustment in Saturday's semifinals to overcome a slow startand upset defending champion Lindsay Davenport, who's ranked No 2 in the world.

Pierce, whose performance at Amelia improved her world ranking from sixth to fifth, understood her opponent's confusion.

Martinez lost for the third straight time on clay to Pierce, who improved her record to 13-2 this season.

Pierce has won two of the four tournaments she's played in 1998, including the Paris indoors title in February, and earned $79,000 for her 10th career singles victory.