NEW HAVEN, Connecticut, 27 August 2005 — Top seed Lindsay Davenport overcame Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 7-6 to reach the semifinals of the New Haven Open on Thursday.
The American cruised through the first set but had to fight hard in the second before snatching the tiebreak 7-5 to earn a meeting with unseeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze, who beat Jie Zheng of China 6-4, 6-4.
Davenport, who will regain the world No.1 ranking from Russian Maria Sharapova if she reaches the final, admitted she needed time to hit top form, having missed almost a month because of a back injury.
“I think it’s about playing matches,” Davenport said.
“I think it would be wrong of me to expect that I can come out after seven or eight weeks and be perfect.
“There’s always going to be aspects of my game that need to be worked on and stuff that you can really only get from playing matches. And that’s like hitting a good serve and getting ready for the ball to come back.” Fourth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva suffered a surprise 6-4, 6-3 defeat by Anabel Madinah Garrigues of Spain.
Madinah Garrigues now plays second seed Amelie Mauresmo, after the Frenchwoman outplayed unseeded German Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-3, 6-2.
In the men’s event, American James Blake continued his resurgence with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over sixth seed Tommy Haas of Germany. Blake, who reached the final in Washington earlier this month, was blown off the court in the first set by Haas, the former world number two.
But Blake picked up his game in the second set and after levelling the match, he broke in the first and ninth games of the decider to clinch victory.
Blake now plays Juan Ignacio Chela after the Argentine followed up his victory over top seed Nikolay Davydenko with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Frenchman Fabrice Santoro.
Second seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile lost 6-7, 7-5, 7-6 to Spaniard Fernando Verdasco but fourth seed Tommy Robredo of Spain crushed Austrian Stefan Koubek 6-2, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals.
Third seed David Ferrer of Spain outgunned Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan 6-4, 6-2, but seventh-seeded Chilean Nicolas Massu was upset 6-4, 6-4 by Romanian Victor Hanescu. Fifth seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain and Russian Igor Andreev also advanced.
Clijsters Says She Will Retire
at the End of 2007
In Brussels, former world No. 1 Kim Clijsters was quoted yesterday as saying she plans to retire from professional tennis at the end of 2007.
“I think I will stop at the end of 2007. My body is already giving me a lot of problems,” the 22-year-old Belgian said. “Maybe I will still play the (Antwerp) Diamond Games in 2008, as a goodbye tournament, but that will be it,” she told Het Laatste Nieuws daily.
Clijsters has suffered from a series of injuries since 2003 when she became the first women’s player since 1974 to play more than 100 singles matches in a season.
She returned from a career-threatening left wrist injury in February and has also suffered a knee injury this year. Despite these setbacks she has won six titles in 2005 including in Toronto last weekend.
Clijsters is seeded fourth at the final grand slam tournament of the year, the US Open, which starts on Monday.
“I like to win and I put in a lot to do that but the quality of life in and outside tennis are at least as important,” she said.
Clijsters broke up with her long-time Australian boyfriend Lleyton Hewitt in October.
Strong and solidly built, Clijsters won nine singles titles and seven doubles finals in 2003, becoming the first Belgian to reach number one in August despite never winning one of the four grand slam tournaments.
In early 2004 she lost her fourth grand slam final at the Australian Open where she was troubled by an ankle injury. In June she had an operation on her wrist and missed the rest of the 2004 season.
After thrashing her compatriot and great rival Justine Henin-Hardenne in the Toronto final last weekend, Clijsters said her Achilles tendon was giving her problems.
“It might sound odd but it’s all becoming tougher on me — the tournaments, the travelling.
I can’t see myself playing for more than two or three years,” she said on her website.
