Davenport, Russians Into Quarterfinals at Indian WellsPosted on March 16, 2005  World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport brushed aside 16-year-old Ukraine wildcard Viktoriya Kutuzova 6-1, 6-4 to lead the top seeds into the quarterfinals Tuesday at the WTA stop in Indian Wells.Also advancing were a host of Russians with comebacks in (3) Maria Sharapova (d. (19) Zuluaga from a set down), (4) Elena Dementieva (d. (14) Golovin from a set down), and (5) Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. (Q) Fujiwara). "I felt a little nervous in the beginning of the match," said Dementieva against Golovin. "I feel like I need sometimes, you know, to really get into the match. Sometimes I say it takes me a couple games before I can feel my rhythm and before I can play. Maybe I need to do better warm-up before the match so I can start right from the first one." Former No. 1 Kim Clijsters maintained her comeback-run momentum with a 6-2, 6-1 thrashing of No. 30-seeded Russian Evgenia Linetskaya to reach the quarters, saying the score did not represent the difficulty of the match. "She was really stepping into the court and she was the one who was always dominating all the time," Clijsters said. "She didn't really miss. I think today I just had to make sure that I mixed my game up a little bit, not hit with her all the time, just mix it up, hit a few slices, a few dropshots. I think I did that pretty well today." Also into the quarters were (7) Nathalie Dechy (d. (WC) Kirkland), (20) Mary Pierce with the upset (d. (6) Petrova, dropping four games), and (23) Conchita Martinez (d. (Q) Kirilenko). Scheduled for Wednesday in IW are (5) Kuznetsova vs. (4) Dementieva in an all-Russian, and (23) Martinez vs. Clijsters. |
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