Williams Takes Davenport in Los Angeles Open
M A N H A T T A N B E A C H, Calif., Aug. 13 -- Serena Williams issued a warning of sorts after beating the world’s two top-ranked players in consecutive matches.
“I haven’t even begun. I’m just warming up, basically,” shesaid with a smile, having extended the family winning streak tofour tournaments today by rallying for a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1) victoryover Lindsay Davenport to win the estyle.com Classic for the secondstraight year.
Following her win here last August, Williams went on to win theU.S. Open — her only Grand Slam championship.
Davenport, ranked second in the world, served for the match at6-5 in the third set, but Williams broke at love to force atiebreaker.
It was 1-1 when Davenport double faulted, and Williams then wonthe next five points to ending the 2-hour, 28-minute match.
Strong Post-Wimbledon Showing Williams took 11 of the match’s final 12 points to extend hercareer record against Davenport to 5-1.
“At 5-6, I was thinking I had to break or it’s the end of thematch,” Williams said. “I didn’t want that, I made it happen.
“Even today, I made too many errors. I don’t know how I pulledit through. I wasn’t the same spunky person you usually see.Obviously, my groundstrokes really came through for me. I didn’tserve very well.”
The tournament at the Manhattan Club was the first for the18-year-old Serena since Wimbledon, where she lost to older sisterVenus in the semifinals.
Venus Williams beat Davenport in the final at Wimbledon for herfirst Grand Slam title, then prevailed in the Bank of the West andAcura classics before taking this week off. Davenport was runner-upin the Bank of the West, too.
Davenport’s Opportunity Lost Seeded fifth in this tournament and ranked seventh in the worldmainly because she hasn’t played much this year, Serena rallied fora 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Martina Hingis, the world’s top-rankedplayer and No. 1 seed, in Saturday’s semifinals.
