BEIJING, 21 September 2006 — Former world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport struggled yesterday to overcome Russian teenager Anna Chakvetadze 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 7-5 yesterday to reach the second round of the China Open.

The American fifth seed, playing her first tournament in Beijing, used the experience gained from three Grand Slam titles, to triumph in two hours, 31 minutes against the determined world No. 27.

Davenport, a semifinalist last week in Bali, had to battle throughout to take control against her 19-year-old opponent, who she easily beat last season in New Haven.

The 30-year-old, whose is expected to retire soon, finally emerged the winner in a sloppy contest marred by 13 combined breaks of serve.

Chakvetadze, eighth-ranked among a record 17 Russians in the Top 100, struck 13 costly double-faults. Davenport failed to serve out the first set after breaking her opponent’s serve and had to fight through a tiebreaker to win the set, which lasted 59 minutes.

The American lost serve three times to drop the second set and needed three match points over two games to finally earn victory in the third. In the second round, she faces China’s Zheng Jie.

Chinese Peng Shuai charged into the quarterfinals 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, beating defending champion Maria Kirilenko.

Peng lost the first set before winning in more than two and a half hours to continue the host nation’s impressive performance.

“I was able to fight thanks to the home crowd,” said Peng, 20. Kirilenko, who beat German Anna-Lena Groenefeld in the final a year ago, struggled on serve, hitting 10 double-faults and losing seven service games.

Peng, ranked 60, who has overcome a shaky 1-6 start this season that saw her ranking crash from the 30s into the 70s, saved four break points in her battle with Kirilenko.

She will face the winner from Japan’s Ai Sugiyama and Czech fourth seed Nicole Vaidisova tomorrow.

Peng leads a group of four compatriots determined to shine at their home tournament, with Sun Tiantian, Zheng Jie and Li Na all through to second round matches today.

Peng, a runner-up on clay in Strasborg in May to the teenaged Vaidisova, reached the Wimbledon third round last summer and has beaten three top 10 opponents in her career.

Meanwhile French player Marion Bartoli, losing finalist last weekend in Bali to Svetlana Kuznetsova, easily beat Anabel Madinah Garrigues of Spain 6-3, 6-3.

Hingis Makes Calcutta

Open Quarterfinal

Top seed Martina Hingis scored a hard-fought 6-2, 7-5 win over Tzipora Obziler in the second round of the Kolkata Open tournament yesterday.

The world No. 9 from Switzerland took 84 minutes to dispose of her 130th-ranked Israeli opponent and set up a quarterfinal clash with Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand.

Hingis, who had looked in complete control of her first-round match against Hungarian Melinda Czink, made quite a few unforced errors but used her experience to pull off a win.

“There were ups and downs in the second set,” said Hingis. “I definitely played better in the first round and gave my opponent a lot of opportunities today.” Earlier in the day, Tanasugarn, a regular in Indian tournaments, sweated it out for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Abigail Spears of the US.

Knowing that Tanasugarn had two tough matches and a doubles match to boot, Hingis said she hoped the Thai player was tired.