Davenport Survives Scare to Advance to 3rd Round at Australian Open

Posted on January 20, 2005

World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport showed up for work unprepared Thursday at the Australian Open.

Looking sluggish in the early-afternoon heat, the American received a wake-up call after finding herself a set down against No. 99-ranked Czech Michaela Pastikova, eventually recovering to advance 2-6, 6-2, 6-2.

"I just wasn't ready to be at my very best at the beginning," said Davenport, who next faces another Czech in teen sensation Nicole Vaidisova. "She was very aggressive and caught me on the back foot...In the second and third sets, I got off to good starts, and that carried me through."

Other seeded winners Thursday were (3) Anastasia Myskina (d. Obziler), (6) Elena Dementieva (d. Chakvetadze), (8) Venus (d. Peng), (10) Alicia Molik (d. Nakamura), (12) Patty "Handshake" Schnyder (d. Michaella "Little Sis" Krajicek, coming from a set down), (13) Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem (d. Garbin in two tiebreaks), (14) Francesca Schiavone (d. Perebiynis 6-0 in the third), (18) Elena Likhovtseva (d. Dominikovic in three), (19) Nathalie Dechy (d. Mashona "Little Sis" Washington from a set down), (25) Lisa Raymond (d. Klara "Kouky" Koukalova 0-and-1), (26) Daniela Hantuchova (d. Barbara "Like I Give a" Schett, bagel in the second in her last Australian Open), and (27) Anna Smashnova (d. Tanasugarn).

"I learned a lot of things from last year, that my emotions don't really help me on court," said Myskina, who weathered a few mini-meltdowns before moving into the third round. "I saw myself on TV, and I don't really like it."

More of the chaff was separated from the fine grain Thursday with three additional lower seeds eliminated in (20) Tatiana "Hot Pants" Golovin (l. to American Abigail "Hit Me Baby" Spears), (23) Jelena Jankovic (l. to Russian Tatiana "The Pocket Baseliner" Panova), and (31) Jelena Kostanic (l. to the next-in-line teen Vaidisova, bagel in the first).

On court Friday are Ivanovic vs. (2) Mauresmo, Li vs. (4) Sharapova, (5) Kuznetsova vs. Diaz-Oliva, (7) Serena vs. Mirza, Groenefeld vs. Douchevina, (15) Farina Elia vs. the Brit sensation Baltacha, Linetskaya vs. (21) Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier, and (22) Maleeva vs. (11) Petrova.