Reborn Davenport Punishes Youngster
Sun Herald
Sunday January 23, 2005
WORLD No.1 Lindsay Davenport was on the verge of retirement last year, but yesterday she took only 64 minutes to overcome Nicole Vaidisova and book a place in the fourth round of the Australian Open.
While Davenport might be considering lowering the curtain, there will undoubtedly be plenty of opportunities in the future to watch her 15-year-old opponent in action. The respectable 6-2, 6-4 scoreline gave some indication of how hard the young Czech fought, but more impressive was her confidence in going for the big winners.Vaidisova, already ranked No.70 in the world, was not about to die wondering, and if she had been a little more composed the scoreline may have been even closer. Davenport began slowly, as she did in the second round against Michaela Pastikova, and Vaidisova attacked from start, appearing to rattle the 2000 Australian Open champion. The balance changed, however, when Davenport broke the Czech in the fifth game, did the same in the seventh and went on to take the set. In the second set, Vaidisova continued to go for the lines, smashing a couple of forehand winners, but when Davenport broke her in the seventh it was always going to be tough for her to stay in the match."First set I had a good start, I held my serve . . . and had some break points, but I made some stupid mistakes, and she's a great champion and she'll punish you for that," Vaidisova said. She dismissed comparisons to Wimbledon Open champion Maria Sharapova, saying they were "totally different". "Everybody just keeps comparing somebody to somebody," she said. "I have respect for Maria, she's a great player, but I'm Nicole and I'll do what Nicole wants, not what Maria does." Davenport, meanwhile, said she had regained her drive. "The turn of events in the last six months took no one more by shock than myself, I was fully ready to see the twilight of my career," she said. "But something definitely changed last summer and I started playing at a very high level and it started becoming very exciting again."Davenport will play another rising star, Karolina Sprem, in next round after the Croat brushed aside Russian Elena Likhovtseva 6-4, 6-3.
© 2005 Sun Herald
