Kournikova Drops Davenport, Rios Still Hunting Top Spot The Lipton, Wednesday, March 25 By Ed Toombs

Davenport dropped to defeat

  16-year-old Anna Kournikova is continuing a week that may have announced her arrival among the elite of women's tennis. After sweeping aside fellow teen queen Mirjana Lucic, 4th-seeded Monica Seles and 9th-seeded Conchita Martinez, young Anna claimed the most impressive victim in her young career today in the quarterfinals, eliminating second-ranked Lindsay Davenport, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.

  The match statistics say that Lindsay was 8 for 24 in net approaches, a success rate of 33%. The natural reaction on reading that statistic would be to mutter, "Gosh, Lindsay must have been volleying badly!" Not so. Davenport was rarely at the net of her own volition, but was more often than not brought there by one of Anna's many drop shots.

  Davenport is vulnerable to the drop shot. She has gained a bit of speed since losing weight and improving her fitness, but is still a relatively plodding player who relies on the brute force and depth of her groundies and returns. Lindsay claimed that the drop shot worked so well because she was forced to take up a very deep court position out of respect for Anna's power. "She hits the ball so hard," noted Davenport. "I was definitely waiting behind the baseline to try to get her balls back because they were coming so hard. It's a very good play, I saw her do it against Seles the other day." But Kournikova's explanation of why the tactic worked so well is, while perhaps brutal, probably more to the point: "I mean, [Seles and Davenport] are not the fastest players on tour, so I try to use that."

  Kournikova abandoned the mixture of finesse and power for one set, the second, which Davenport won. In that set the Russian tried to slug it out from the baseline with Lindsay. Allowed to regain her rhythm, Davenport began to find the range on her returns and groundies, reducing her unforced errors from 20 in the first set to 8 in the second.

  As the third set started, Kournikova returned to the mixture of power and touch that served her so well early in the match, and jumped quickly to a 2-0 lead. After Davenport pulled a backhand wide to concede a second service break and give Kournikova a 4-1 advantage, the frustrated American pretty much conceded defeat.

  Davenport still says she can be number one in the world -- she answered the question, "Are you resigned to the fact that you might not make it to number one?" with a curt "no" -- but there is little doubt that the field is gaining on her. Kournikova is just one of several young players who may be threatening Davenport's number two ranking in the very near future. Anna, Venus, Serena, Mirjana: they all hit as hard as Lindsay, and move better too. In next week's rankings, Venus will likely rise to the top 10, Anna to the top 20, and Serena to the top 30. Lindsay has lost twice this season to Venus and now once to Anna, so she is surely hearing the footsteps.

  And don't think Davenport doesn't know it. "It's just a lot tougher tour than even three years ago," she notes. "It also makes it a little bit more exciting. I think one of these girls will break through and start winning tournaments now." Maybe as soon as this weekend? With Kournikova in the semis and playing luminous tennis, and Venus in the quarters and rolling impressively, it could happen here.

  Dreadful Jana: Anyone wondering if Jana Novotna would proclaim herself a "great champion" if she won the Lipton, as she did after winning last year's Chase Championships, will be left in a state of doubt this week. The Czech played what surely must be one of the worst matches of her career in a 6-1, 6-1 blowout by Arantxa Sanchez Vicario. Novotna won only 25 of 80 points in a pitiful display. I will spare you any further account of this match, except to say that the former doubles partners, now bitter rivals, did shake hands after the match. But at a great distance. Sanchez now trails by just 10 to 9 in their career confrontations.

  It should be pointed out that Arantxa is looking sharp, trim and speedy here this week. Which is great to see. She will next attempt to use her quickness and veteran guile to slow down the rampaging Kournikova. And it could happen!

Rios Chases Number One!

  Two more wins, and Marcelo Rios will be the number one player in the world. He says he's "not thinking about being number one, just trying to win each match." Up to you to decide whether you believe him or not.

  We had anticipated a tight battle between Rios and Thomas Enqvist of Sweden. The 22nd-seeded Enqvist, a talented ball-striker who has been beset with injuries in the last two years, had been playing inspired tennis here this week, well enough to beat two of this year's most feared players, Karol Kucera and Greg Rusedski.

  Alas, Thomas was once again bitten by the injury bug tonight: he was forced to retire, trailing 3-6, 0-2, because of tendinitis in his right wrist. Near the end of the first set his service had dropped off noticeably, and at 0-1 of the second frame he called on an ATP trainer to tape his right wrist. He came out for the next game, but after several long rallies he decided he could not continue. "I've been having problems with my wrist for a while," said the Swede. "During the week it's been getting worse."

  Some observations about Rios. Last year when I saw Marcelo at the Lipton he was an early round loser to Jonas Bjorkman. Several things strike me about Marcelo to explain his vast improvement in the 12 months since.

  First, his serve is so much more solid. Rarely approaching 120 mph, El Chino's delivery will never be mistaken for Rusedski's. But he is so accurate, moves the ball around the box so well, and takes much better advantage of his left-handed slider from the deuce court.

  Second, Rios hits the ball on the run much better now. Last year, I thought that although he had great speed and could run down almost any ball, he was sometimes off balance at the moment of contact and missed shots he could be making. Now his balance is extraordinary, even on the dead run, and he looks capable of hitting any shot from any position. Plus, his impressive volleying continues to be the best-kept secret in tennis.

  Rios will now play Tim Henman, and expects a "tough match" against the Englishman who has suddenly become a well-oiled serve-volley machine. "We've never played before, but we have practiced a lot together, and he's a really good serve and volley player," says Marcelo. "He's really tough to beat if he's playing good."

  Tip Top Tim: Believe it, he is indeed "playing good". Briton Tim Henman continued his marvellous form here, advancing to the semifinals with an easy 6-2, 6-4 win over French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten. Henman was not serving well (47% first serve percentage) but doing everything else flawlessly, as he has been doing all week. He kept constant pressure on Guga with a straightforward serve-volley style, showing his new desire not to complicate life needlessly. "My game plan in all the matches has been to be aggressive, try to serve and volley well. Now I'm playing simple tennis, but very effective." Tim has now beaten three Grand Slam champions this week: Rafter, Korda and Kuerten.

  As for Guga, he seemed to run out of steam after having played marathon three-setters in his previous matches. Unable to pass the charging Henman with any regularity and having all sorts of problems returning Tim's kick second serve, Guga was reduced to tossing his racquet to the court and jumping on it in a second-set display of temper. But Kuerten kept his easygoing humour even after the loss. For example, when asked to assess Brazil's next Davis Cup opponent, Spain: "They have a lot of good players. I think their only problem is for the coach to select the players, like Brazil in the soccer." GUUUU-GAAA! GUUUU-GAAA!
 

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