The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Dementieva ousts Davenport

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 31, 2004

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Sport - Tennis

Dementieva ousts Davenport

PARIS, MAY 30. Lindsay Davenport was eliminated on Sunday at the only Grand Slam event she's never won. Erratic and hampered by a sore knee, the No. 5-seeded Davenport lost to Elena Dementieva 6-1, 6-3 in the fourth round at the French Open.

Davenport said she hurt her right knee in the second round on Wednesday, and then aggravated the injury in the second set against Dementieva.

``From then on it was really sore,'' Davenport said. ``I was just trying to go for shots, kind of knowing that it was probably not going to happen.''

Davenport missed three Grand Slam events after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on the knee in 2002. She plans to have the latest injury evaluated when she returns home to California.

``I'll be extremely bummed if it means more time away,'' she said.

Davenport, 27, has never reached a Roland Garros final in 10 appearances. She won the U.S. Open in 1998, Wimbledon in 1999 and the Australian Open in 2000.

Joining the No. 9-seeded Dementieva in the quarterfinals was Russian compatriot Maria Sharapova, who beat Marlene Weingartner 6-3, 6-1 to reach the final eight at a Grand Slam event for the first time.

``It's an amazing accomplishment,'' said Sharapova, who is 17-years-old and seeded 18th. ``I'm really looking forward to playing some great tennis in the next round, just like I've been doing this whole week.''

Sharapova hit 34 winners to nine for Weingartner.

No. 3 Amelie Mauresmo beat No. 21 Magdalena Maleeva 6-2, 6-1. Mauresmo will play Dementieva on Tuesday.

Zheng Jie became the first Chinese woman to play a fourth-round match at a Grand Slam event — but lost to No. 14 Paola Suarez 6-4, 7-5.

In men's play, No. 9 Tim Henman earned his first quarterfinal berth in a major event other than Wimbledon by rallying past French wild card Michael Llodra 6-7 (2), 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 9-7. Henman overcame a match point serving at 4-5 in the final set.

No. 3 Guillermo Coria advanced when Nicolas Escude retired with an injury after losing the first set 6-0. Coria has dropped only 21 games in four rounds. No. 22 Juan Ignacio Chela became a first-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist by beating Olivier Mutis 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5), 6-2.

Xavier Malisse won the last third-round match, beating 2002 champion Albert Costa 6-4, 2-6, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 8-6. Malisse overcame two match points before play was suspended in the fourth set on Saturday because of darkness.

Costa served for the match at 5-4 in the final set but lost the next two games, then busted his racket and flipped it over his shoulder as he walked to the changeover chair. The Spaniard was seeded 26th.

Playing the first match on Court Suzanne Lenglen in cool, damp weather, Davenport struggled from the start. She won only seven points in falling behind 4-0 in just 14 minutes.

``It was the kind of day that Americans don't like to play on clay,'' she said.

Davenport finished with just seven winners and 28 unforced errors. She won fewer than half her service points and was broken six times.

Dementieva, long hampered by a wobbly serve, hit six double-faults but closed the victory with a second-serve ace. She arrived in Paris with a 10-9 record this year and is in the French Open quarterfinals for the first time.

Paes-Rikl bow out

India's Leander Paes and David Rikl of Czech Republic crashed out of the men's doubles competition with a second round loss on Saturday. They were defeated 6-2, 4-6, 2-6 by the Argentinian pair of Juan Ignacio Chela and Gaston Gaudio.

The Argentinian duo lost the first set 6-2 but came back strongly to win the next two sets.

Paes-Martina move up

Martina Navratilova (U.S.) and Leander Paes (India) beat Magui Serna (Spain) and Martin Rodriguez (Argentina) 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of the mixed doubles.

Bhupathi-Mirnyi in quarterfinals

Third seed Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi of Belarus thrashed the Croatian pair of Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic 6-2, 6-2 to storm into the quarterfinals of the doubles event.

The Indo-Belarus pair faced no resistance from the unseeded pair. The pair will clash with Karsten Braasch of Germany and Sargis Sargsian of Armenia in the quarterfinals. The country's juniors also made a promising start with the top Indian player Karan Rastogi and Tushar Liberhan moving into the second round of the boys' event.

The 12th seed, Rastogi, overcame a slight lapse in concentration to beat local hope Jonathan Dasnieres 6-3, 6-7 (1/7), 6-3 while Liberhan defeated Jamie Murray of Great Britain 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. But Divij Sharan lost to Briton Miles Kasiri 6-1, 6-2.

Bhupathi, however, bowed out of the mixed doubles event. Bhupathi and Russia's Elena Likhovtseva, the top seeds, were knocked out by Els Callens of Belgium and Argentine Sebastian Prieto 7-5, 6-3. — Agencies

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