Wounded Foes Ready For Big Duel

The Age

Tuesday January 24, 2006

LINDA PEARCE

JON Leach is recently arrived in Melbourne from Laguna Beach, California, no doubt hoping to see his wife Lindsay Davenport sweep to a second Australian Open title. Today, Leach will be courtside for the final that isn't; the quarter-final that - injury permitting - would be a worthy women's decider.

Davenport, the world No. 1, plays Justine Henin-Hardenne, a former inhabitant of the top spot, the 2004 Australian Open winner who has fallen to sixth in the rankings after a year that started with a knee problem and ended with a hamstring injury.

Yet it is Davenport's body that is the more newsworthy subject this week. The American rolled her ankle in round three and jarred it during Sunday's defeat of Svetlana Kuznetsova. Scans cleared the American of structural damage, but she is listed officially as only a "probable" starter, and spent yesterday away from the practice court, treating a swollen left ankle that was packed in ice.

Davenport will need all the mobility she can muster against the Belgian, with whom she shares an interesting history: Davenport won the first five matches, and Henin-Hardenne the past four, including at Melbourne Park in 2003 and 2004.

"She's just a phenomenal player," Davenport said before the quarter-final rematch. "I mean, the difference from when I played her in the beginning of her career and how she's gotten better over the years is quite outstanding. There's no question, no matter what her ranking is, she's always a very feared opponent.

"I think she's gotten more aggressive against me. I think in the beginning of her career, her forehand was more of a liability. Now I think she considers it more of a weapon."

The winner will play either fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova or No. 6 Nadia Petrova, the top-ranked duo among the 11 Russians in the top 40.

Sharapova prevailed at both Wimbledon and the US Open, but Petrova is a worthy opponent, who in 2005 broke through to win her first title after seven years on the tour.

There is a slightly juicy subplot to this match. When the pair first met, in Los Angeles in 2003, it was reported that Sharapova pumped her fist at the start of the third set, to which her father Yuri Sharapov claimed Petrova responded with an obscene gesture.

Yuri then taunted Petrova from the stands and, afterwards, Petrova's then-coach, Glen Schapp, accosted Yuri and dumped him into a rubbish bin before security guards intervened.

© 2006 The Age

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