Tennis

Davenport slammed again

By wire services
Published January 25, 2006

MELBOURNE, Australia - It has become an all-too-familiar feeling for Lindsay Davenport.

The top-seeded Davenport extended her Grand Slam title drought to six years with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 Australian Open quarterfinal loss to Justine Henin-Hardenne on Tuesday.

"To get out there and play well, then slowly get worse as the match went on - it's a bad feeling to have when you leave," the 29-year-old American said.

After winning the Australian Open in 2000, Davenport slipped out of the top 10, talked about retiring, then revived her career by regaining the No.1 ranking and making finals here and at Wimbledon last year.

But the constant throughout the past six years has been a failure to add to her three major championships.

She took on a new coach, Dave DiLucia, for this season and said Tuesday "there's obviously still a lot of stuff that I need to get better."

"I guess I've got the opportunity now the next few months to try and make those improvements," she said, "give it another shot in another few months."

Three women who weren't here a year ago are among those chasing the title - Belgians Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters were out with injuries last year, and three-time winner Martina Hingis was retired.

The eighth-seeded Henin-Hardenne is 3-0 against Davenport at Melbourne Park, including the fourth round in 2003 and the quarterfinals in 2004, when she went on to beat Clijsters for the title.

Henin-Hardenne's semifinal opponent will be 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova, who ousted fellow Russian Nadia Petrova 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 after fighting off two set points in an error-strewn tiebreaker.

Clijsters plays Hingis, and Amelie Mauresmo takes on Patty Schnyder in quarterfinals today, with the winners facing off Thursday.

Clijsters and Mauresmo have a chance of replacing Davenport atop the rankings. Clijsters has to reach the final; Mauresmo has to win the title and have Hingis defeat Clijsters.

Davenport said winning a fourth major remains her focus.

"Even though maybe I took a step backwards, I still feel like I'm in the right direction," she said. "I wouldn't stay out here and I wouldn't give it my all if I didn't feel like it was still reachable."

In men's play today, Nicolas Kiefer advanced to the semifinals with a grueling and contentious 6-3, 0-6, 6-4, 6-7 (7-1), 8-6 win over Sebastien Grosjean.

Kiefer is in the final four for the first time in 35 majors after playing the longest match of the tournament - 4 hours and 48 minutes. Up next for him could be top-ranked Roger Federer.

Federer went into his night quarterfinal match against No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko on a 49-match winning streak on hard courts.

In a bizarre point at 40-30 in the 12th game, Kiefer tossed his racket over the net just after Grosjean, serving to stay in the match, hit a forehand into the net.

Grosjean appealed for a hindrance ruling, but was denied by umpire Carlos Bernardes and then unsuccessfully argued the point with Grand Slam supervisor Mike Morrissey.

Kiefer already had been warned twice for using obscene language. One more code violation would have cost him a point.

He frequently questioned line calls, losing his cool as he lost the fourth-set tiebreaker and again when he was broken for a second time in the fifth set.

The 28-year-old German smashed a water bottle at the changeover, but recovered to break Grosjean again and get the match back on serve.

POSITIVE DRUG TEST: Moroccan player Younes El Aynaoui tested positive for marijuana in Italy last month and could face a three-month suspension. El Aynaoui, who was ranked 14th in the world in late 2003, is now 205th and plays for Sporting Club Geovillage in Sardinia.

[Last modified January 25, 2006, 00:56:11]