Injury scare for Davenport at Open

By Julian Linden

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Lindsay Davenport survived an injury
scare on Sunday to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian
Open for the ninth time in her career.

The world number one aggravated a sprained left ankle
against Russia’s 14th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova but limped to a
6-2 6-4 win on another scorching day at Melbourne Park.

Tournament organizers invoked the extreme heat rule for the
third day in a row, closing the roofs over the two main courts
as the mercury soared toward a forecast 43 Celsius (109
Fahrenheit).

Eighth seed Justine Henin-Hardenne underlined her standing
as favorite with a crushing 6-0 6-3 defeat of Virginia Ruano
Pascual. The Belgian will play Davenport on Tuesday for a place
in the semi-finals.

Sixth seed Nadia Petrova was also in scintilating form,
thrashing unseeded Russian compatriot Elena Vesnina 6-3 6-1 to
advance against either fourth seed Maria Sharapova or 17th seed
Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia.

Davenport began brilliantly against Kuznetsova, racing
through the opening set in just 18 minutes and opening up a 3-0
lead in the second.

But the Californian suddenly looked in trouble when she
jammed her heavily strapped ankle, then lost the next four
games after having it re-taped.

However, she regained her composure as the errors started
to creep into Kuznetsova’s game, winning the last three games
to seal victory in an hour.

“I knew that if it wasn’t in two sets, that my chances were
significantly reduced so I was trying very hard,” Davenport
told a news conference.

“I’m still in the tournament. I still have a chance to get
it better. It’s just one of those things where you shake your
head about it in disbelief.”

OUTSTANDING FORM

Henin-Hardenne was in outstanding form against Ruano
Pascual, outclassing the unseeded Spaniard to continue her
unbeaten run in Australia to 18 matches over three years.

Henin-Hardenne won the title in 2004 but was unable to
defend it last year because of injury. She won the French Open
on her return to grand slam tennis but is making another
comeback after more health problems at the end of last season.

“I’ve had a lot of comebacks in the last two years,” she
said.

“I can do good comebacks. But it takes a lot of energy.

“I will enjoy being here in the quarters again. I think
that’s pretty amazing after four months off.”

Petrova, twice a French Open semi-finalist, profited from a
string of errors by inexperienced 19-year-old Vesnina, who was
playing in her first grand slam tournament.

Vesnina produced a sloppy 35 unforced errors in the
62-minute match, the final one coming when she lamely netted a
backhand on Petrova’s first match point.