Davenport back on
track after Aussie loss
No. 1 wins in 2nd round of
Pan Pacific after losing to Serena
 Shizuo Kambayashi / AP Lindsay Davenport relied on a strong serve and solid groundstrokes against Saori Obata on the indoor carpet surface Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. |
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Top-ranked Lindsay Davenport began her title defense in the Pan Pacific Open on Thursday, beating Japan’s Saori Obata 6-4, 6-2 in a second-round match.
Davenport, seeking her fifth Pan Pacific title, was playing her first singles match since losing to Serena Williams in the Australian Open final Saturday.
“I still feel a little worn down,” Davenport said. “It was a great but demanding two weeks. I started to feel a bit better today but getting over a loss like that is probably the toughest thing you have to do.”
Davenport relied on a strong serve and solid groundstrokes against Obata on the indoor carpet surface Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
“This is a difficult surface to get used to,” Davenport said. “Getting broke twice in the first set was tough, but I started to serve well in the second set and that’s the key on this surface.”
Russians Elena Likhovtseva and Elena Dementieva also advanced. The third-seeded Likhovtseva beat American Jill Craybas 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, and the fourth-seeded Dementieva routed Japan’s Akiko Morigami 6-2, 6-2
In other second-round matches, Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic downed Japan’s Aiko Nakamura 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, while eighth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia recovered from a slow start to defeat Russia’s Maria Kirilenko 4-6, 6-0, 6-2.
On Wednesday, Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova of Russia beat Maria Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela 7-6 (3), 6-0 in the second round. Sharapova will face Likhovtseva in the quarterfinals.
Gaudio, Acasuso to meet in quarters
Top-seeded Gaston Gaudio of Argentina reached the quarterfinals of the BellSouth Open on Thursday with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over David Sanchez of Spain.
Also advancing was sixth-seeded Jose Acasuso of Argentina, who beat Flavio Saretta of Brazil 6-2, 7-6 (7-2).
Gaudio, the French Open champion, plays Acasuso on Saturday. “I have played Jose 10 times and it has always been tough,” Gaudio said, “so I definitely expect a complicated match this time again.”
Top-seeded Zvonareva advances
Top-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia advanced to the quarterfinals of the Volvo Open on Thursday with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Anca Barna of Germany.
Zvonareva, who had nine aces in the match, next plays fellow-Russian Evgenia Linetskaya.
Also moving to the quarterfinals was third-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain, who saved two match points and beat Silvija Talaja of Croatia 7-5, 2-6, 7-5.
In other second-round matches, eighth-seeded Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain beat Marlene Weingartner of Germany 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 and Shahar Peer of Israel beat Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan 6-4, 6-2.
Novak advances at Delray Beach
Second-seeded Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic easily advanced to the quarterfinals of the Delray Beach ATP Tour event Thursday, beating Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2, 6-1.
“I definitely played a much better match than I did two days ago, which was my first match of the season,” Novak said. “Today, I was playing great at the baseline, had a good percentage on first serves and I didn’t let him play.”
In the quarterfinals, Novak will play seventh-seeded Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark, a 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 winner over American Brian Vahaly.
“I think I came out poorly and made a lot of mistakes and he was playing solid,” Carlsen said. “In the second set, I started to try to play more aggressively, more controlled aggressively.”
Two-time Delray winner Jan-Michael Gambill beat Peter Wessels of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3 in a night match to set up a quarterfinal against Wesley Moodie of South Africa. Moodie beat fifth-seeded defending champion Ricardo Mello of Brazil 6-4, 6-4.
“Losing is never fun, especially here where I played well last year,” Mello said. “And there were expectations to do well again.”
Paraguay’s Ramon Delgado also advanced Thursday, beating China’s Peng Sun 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-1. Delgardo will face third-seed Xavier Malisse of Belgium in the quarterfinals. In the other quarterfinal, top-seeded Vince Spadea will play fellow American Kevin Kim.
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