Davenport Dusts Off Spirlea To Claim Evert Cup Crown

Lindsay Davenport let the thin desert air function as a natural turbocharger to help her pummel Romania’s Irina Spirlea into quick submission in an Evert Cup final that was over before Saturday cartoons.

“I just tried to play smart,” said Davenport, who took just 64 minutes to nab her first major title on the Corel WTA Tour with a 6-2, 6-1 win.

“I didn’t want to hit to that forehand,” said Davenport, who realized that Spirlea’s most dangerous weapon was her most Graf-like weapon, and took pains to aim elsewhere.

Davenport broke her opponent seven times and treated Spirlea’s second serve with contempt: Out of the 28 second serves Spirlea was forced to rely on, the Romanian won five points.

In the semifinals of the Newsweek Champions Cup, held concurrently at the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort, defending champion Michael Chang overpowered Thomas Muster in the first set, then took control again in a second-set tiebreaker to move into today’s finals against Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic.

Chang, who also won the tournament in 1992, beat Muster 6-1, 7-6 (7-1). Ulihrach downed Jonas Bjorkman 6-3, 6-2.