Wimbledon: Davenport defeats Clijsters to reach quarterfinal round

WIMBLEDON, England — Working out has given Lindsay Davenport a newfound confidence at Wimbledon.

The 1999 champion reached the quarterfinals yesterday by beating No. 15 Kim Clijsters of Belgium 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3. Clijsters had three double faults in the final game, including on match point, then slammed her racket to the grass.

"She puts you under so much pressure," Clijsters said. "From the moment you hit a second serve, you have to start running."

After losing in the semifinals last year, the top-ranked Davenport said she was considering retiring at end of 2004.

"Working out and getting in better shape has helped me mentally quite a bit," the Laguna Beach, Calif., resident said. "I think all of that gives me confidence."

Clijsters said she had never seen the 29-year-old Davenport looking as fit.

"I've seen her work in the gym, lifting weights, stuff I've never seen her do," Clijsters said. "She seems very motivated."

Enough to start beating players such as Clijsters and the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus.

"[I] very rarely pat myself on the back," Davenport said. "But the players that I just felt like were running me out of the game in 2002, '03 and a little bit of '04, I'm happy that I was able to mentally kind of overcome those barriers with all of them."

What had the potential to be an electrifying day of tennis came up a few shots shy of truly memorable.

Third-seeded Lleyton Hewitt, unusually, squandered two match points in the third set. The Australian needed another set to finish off American Taylor Dent 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (7-9), 6-3.

There was no shortage of comebacks on the grounds, starting with a predictable, emotion-laden all-Russian encounter: No. 9 Anastasia Myskina survived two match points in the second set, beating No. 6 Elena Dementieva 1-6, 7-6 (11-9), 7-5.

No. 8 Nadia Petrova of Russia also fought off two match points, prevailing in a roller-coaster contest against Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (9-7), 6-3.

Top-seeded Roger Federer of Switzerland and No. 2 Andy Roddick each were forced to a tiebreaker but won in straight sets. Federer beat Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), and American Roddick defeated No. 15 Guillermo Coria of Argentina, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4.

And there would be no sweep of the Williams sisters on Court 2 by Jill Craybas. Venus Williams won the first set in 21 minutes against Craybas, and looked convincing, winning 6-0, 6-2 in a matchup of Americans. Craybas said she has been suffering from a stomach-muscle injury since the second round.

"I think it's probably a big challenge to play both Serena and I in a row," Venus said.

Missing yesterday was a buzz-creating moment at the All England Lawn Tennis Club — the stunning upset of a marquee player, which is what happened Saturday when Craybas beat Serena Williams in straight sets in the fading light.

Even the Davenport-Clijsters match, which featured terrific baseline exchanges and massive shifts of momentum, ended limply.

"A lot of people that I've seen after the match, everybody is saying this should have been the final," Clijsters said.

Davenport saw it a bit differently, which makes sense because she will be back in action today in a quarterfinal against No. 5 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia.

"It feels like it was a big match, a match that I was looking forward to for the whole tournament when I saw the draw," Davenport said, adding, "I don't know about a final, but maybe a little bit later than a round of 16."