NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) _ American Lindsay Davenport overcame a
rain delay, a sore shoulder and the hard-hitting Samantha Stosur to
advance to the final of the Pilot Pen tournament with a 7-6 (3), 7-6
(7) victory in two hours Friday.
Davenport, the defending champion, is playing in only her fifth
tournament of 2006 because of a back injury. She was hoping for
playing time to prepare for next week's U.S. Open, and she's had
plenty. Seeded seventh here, Davenport has posted four straight-set
wins, including against No. 1-ranked Amelie Mauresmo of France.
``First of all, I'm ecstatic to be in the finals,'' Davenport
said. ``I'm feeling fatigued. I played more tennis this week than I
have in six months.''
Stosur was her toughest test of the week. They traded powerful
groundstrokes on nearly every point and Davenport had little room
for error in her service game. The 22-year-old Australian repeatedly
pounded Davenport's second serve and her backhand returns were
especially effective.
Davenport called for a trainer between sets to have her shoulder
worked on, then dominated the first game of the second set with two
aces and two service winners. After Stosur won the second game, they
had to wait out a 15-minute rain delay.
It was their second meeting this month. Stosur defeated Davenport
in Los Angeles for her first career win over a top-10 player.
Lacking a title on the singles tour, Stosur has developed into
the top doubles player in the world along with partner Lisa Raymond.
They won the Pilot Pen doubles title last year and are the reigning
French Open and U.S. Open champions. But she was all alone Friday
against Davenport, who moved her from sideline to sideline and
consistently found gaps with her groundstrokes.
``You never want to lose to a player twice. But I mean, I knew in
my head that I'm playing differently this week than I was two weeks
ago,'' Davenport said. ``She's a very tricky opponent, comes up with
a lot of good shots.''
Stosur fought off two match points and held serve in the ninth
game of the second set, and was just as gritty in the tiebreaker.
Davenport jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but Stosur battled to 7-7 before
double-faulting the next point and sending a forehand volley long
that closed out the match.
``I thought I played very well. I gave it everything I had,''
Stosur said.
Davenport next faces Justin Henin-Hardenne or Svetlana
Kuznetsova, who also are past U.S. Open champions.
In the men's tournament, Agustin Calleri advanced to the final
after Xavier Malisse retired with a sore right elbow at the start of
the second set. Calleri won the first set 6-2.
