The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Davenport moves up

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 21, 2007
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Sport - Tennis

Davenport moves up

BEIJING: Former World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport powered into the quarterfinals of the China Open on Thursday, notching up her seventh straight win since rejoining the tour after giving birth in June.

World No. 3 Jelena Jankovic also reached the quarterfinals, thrashing Spain’s Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-0, 6-0.

But all eyes were on the comeback mum Davenport, who defeated Eleni Daniilidou, 7-5, 6-3. Daniilidou, who has now lost all three career meetings with Davenport dating back to 2002, did herself no favours, losing her serve five times.

“I got off to a slow start,” said Davenport. “But I made fewer errors and forced her to make errors later on.”

Davenport, 31, arrived in Beijing after winning the title on the Indonesian resort island, testing the waters in Asia as she contemplates a full-time return to tennis in 2008 after a year out of the game.

Adjusting to life

With her three-month-old baby son Jagger, her mother, and a nanny in tow, Davenport said she was adjusting to life as a player-mother.

Jankovic, the second seed here who was defeated by Davenport in a bad-tempered Bali quarterfinal, wasted no time as she launched her Beijing campaign against the 33-year-old Ruano Pascual.

Elena Dementieva, the Russian fourth seed, won 6-2, 6-0 over Austrian teenager Tamira Paszek.

The results (Second round): Lindsay Davenport bt Eleni Daniilidou 7-5, 6-3; Elena Dementieva bt Tamira Paszek 6-2, 6-0; Akiko Morigami bt Aiko Nakamura 7-5, 6-3; Jelena Jankovic bt Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-0, 6-0.

Slovenia Open (Second round): Meilen Tu bt Ana Vrljic7-6(1), 6-0; Emilie Loit bt Nathalie Vierin 6-3, 6-4. — AP

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