Busy Davenport On Her Game

Lindsay Davenport’s Grand Slam tennis career has been like a Charles Dickens novel. You know, “Great Expectations.”

The Slams have always been difficult for Davenport, who has never made it past the quarterfinals at the Australian, French, Wimbledon and U.S. Open. So this summer, she decided on a different preparation for the Open, the season’s final Slam.

“It turned out to be very different,” she said. “I played almost every week this summer. Normally I don’t play that many tournaments. I just played a lot of matches coming in here.

“I think the only way to really build your confidence is to play matches and win them.”

She won her share, too, arriving at the Open with a 38-12 record for the season including tournament wins at Oklahoma City, Indian Wells, Calif., and Amelia Island, Fla. She also beat No. 1 Martina Hingis at home in Manhattan Beach, Calif., three weeks ago, a final injection of confidence.

Davenport said she came into the Open playing the best tennis of her career and looked nearly flawless in a 6-0, 6-3 rub-out of Magui Serna on Monday. That put her into the Open’s quarterfinals - the deepest she’s ever gone in this event. She next faces doubles partner Jana Novotna, who ousted Mary Joe Fernandez 7-5, 6-4.

Grand Slam quarters have never been kind to Davenport. She puts it more bluntly than that, remembering bad times against Steffi Graf and Conchita Martinez.

“Every time I’ve been in the quarterfinals before, I’ve never really been in the match,” she said. “Graf killed me once. Conchita beat me once at Wimbledon 6-3 in the third. I was never up. I was down 5-2 and lost. Conchita killed me at the French. I’ve never been in the match.”

Davenport’s mind is clear and it shows in her tennis.

“I know I’m playing my best tennis,” she said. “I think I’m a lot different player than before. I just haven’t been worried about it.”

So can she win?

“Definitely,” she said. “I think I’m in good shape to win it.”

Women get it straight

All four women’s fourth-round matches Monday ended in straight sets. But they weren’t all equal.

Three of the four first sets were finished in under 30 minutes.

In 22 minutes, top-seeded Hingis blanked Argentina’s Florencia Labat 6-0, the same time and score No. 6 Davenport had over Serna. No. 10 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario needed 27 minutes to take the first set over Australia’s Rachel McQillan 6-1.

No. 3 Novotna, on the other hand, took 49 minutes to win her first set over 12th-seeded Fernandez 7-5.

Eye on tennis

CBS Sports reported its U.S. Open Late Night show averaged a 1.8 rating with a 7 share, up 12 percent over last year’s numbers.

Saturday’s U.S. Open telecast received a 2.1 rating with a 6 share, up 5 percent from 1996’s 2.0 rating with a 6 share.

Sunday, the tournament had a 2.6 rating with a 6 share, a huge 53 percent increase over last year’s 1.7 rating with a 5 share.