BEIJING, 21 September 2007 — Former world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport powered into the quarterfinals of the China Open yesterday, notching her seventh straight win since rejoining the tour after giving birth in June.
World No. 3 Jelena Jankovic also reached the quarterfinals, administering a 6-0, 6-0 thrashing of Spain’s Virginia Ruano Pascual in just 45 minutes.
But all eyes were on the comeback mum Davenport, who defeated Eleni Daniilidou, 7-5, 6-3, in a case of deja vu — the American knocked out the Greek in the first round of the Bali International last week.
Daniilidou, who has now lost all three career meetings with Davenport dating back to 2002, did herself no favors, losing her serve five times.
Davenport, 31, arrived in Beijing after winning the title on the Indonesian resort island, testing the waters in Asia as she contemplates a full-time return to tennis in 2008 after a year out of the game. The three-time Grand Slam champion has said she will assess her options after Beijing. Should she decide to come back to the WTA tour full-time, she would likely make her next appearance in Australia in January.
Jankovic, the second seed here who was defeated by Davenport in a bad-tempered Bali quarterfinal, wasted no time as she launched her Beijing campaign against the 33-year-old Ruano Pascual.
The Serbian will today face Japan’s Akiko Morigami, who beat Aiko Nakamura 7-5, 6-3. Elena Dementieva, the Russian fourth seed, began her week in the Chinese capital with a 51-minute 6-2, 6-0 demolition of talented Austrian teenager Tamira Paszek.
Hantuchova Cruises to
Quarters in India
In Kolkata, second seed Daniela Hantuchova easily advanced to the quarterfinals of the $175,000 WTA Sunfeast Open yesterday with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Anastasia Rodionova of Russia.
The Slovak, who needed barely an hour to finish off Rodionova, will meet Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan in the final eight.
American teenager Vania King, who notched the biggest upset of the tournament on Tuesday by defeating top seed Marion Bartoli of France, failed to sustain her form, losing 6-1, 6-2 to Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine. Seventh seed Italian Flavia Pennetta defeated Uzbekistan’s Akgul Amanmuradova 6-1, 6-3, setting up a quarterfinal clash with fourth seed Maria Kirilenko of Russia.
There was disappointment for the home crowd when wild card Sunitha Rao lost to Britain’s Anne Keothavong 6-3, 6-2 in a late-night match. Keothavong will meet Tzipora Obziler of Israel in the quarterfinals.
Earlier in the day, Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus swept past Swede Sofia Arvidsson 6-3, 6-1 to book a last eight date with Koryttseva.
Loit, Tu Advance to Quarterfinals
of Slovenia Open
In Portoroz, Slovenia, Emilie Loit of France beat Italian qualifier Nathalie Vierin 6-3, 6-4, yesterday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Slovenia Open.
Meilen Tu of the United States also clinched a quarterfinal spot by ousting Croatian qualifier Ana Vrljic 7-6, 6-0. The sixth-seeded Loit, who won the WTA Tour tournament in Acapulco earlier this year, will next play fourth-seeded Katarina Srebotnik or Meghann Shaughnessy, who play later. Tu led 5-2 in the first set, but lost concentration and let Vrljic force a tiebreaker. Vrljic appeared tired in the second set and did not win a game.
