Davenport Tops Mauresmo, Stosur Next at New Haven

"It's about winning these matches when you're first coming back," Davenport said. "Finding a way to win even when you're not playing great. If you told me I would have beaten the No.1 player in the world sometime in the last six months, I probably would not have believed you."

Mauresmo, who also lost to Davenport here last year in the final, said Davenport improved her movement.

"She's serving very well," Mauresmo said. "She's hitting the ball pretty well on both sides. She seems to be moving very well right now so she can reach some balls where maybe she was struggling a little bit before."

Davenport played her last tournament at Indian Wells before a back injury sidelined her for most of the summer. The American veteran made the final here in 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2003 and finally won last year. Her next opponent here, Stosur, lost her last qualifying match but advanced to the main draw due to Shahar Peer's withdrawal. Stosur beat Marion Bartoli, 76(2) 60, on Thursday.

No.2 seed Henin-Hardenne didn't waste much time in her 62 63 victory over lucky loser Mara Santangelo. The Belgian hammered six aces and didn't drop a service game against the 25-year-old Italian.

"I think Justine played unbelievable," Santangelo said. "I think at the moment she's one of the best players in the world."

No.5 seed Kuznetsova ousted No.3 Elena Dementieva, 63 36 62. She needed three sets in all three of her Pilot Pen Tennis matches. The Russian returned here at the $600,000, Tier II event after an abdominal muscle injury forced her out of Tour competition for about two months.

"I'm very happy about the first and third set especially," Kuznetsova said. "I don't know what happened, but in the second, I just stopped. I'm feeling that I'm stopping and not doing anything about it. But in the third set, I get myself going, otherwise what I want to happen isn't going to happen."

Kuznetsova will try to notch her first victory over the Belgian this year. Henin-Hardenne won all four 2006 meetings in straight sets and dominates the all-time head-to-head series 11-1. But she also hasn't competed since Wimbledon due to a right knee injury.

"Justine is playing very well," Kuznetsova said. "She's very strong mentally. She has very good tactics. She has much more experience than I do. This is her advantage. But I'm younger, I hit the ball hard. If I play my game, I think I have chances."

"I've been very consistent in the past when I had to play against (Svetlana)," Henin-Hardenne said. "But tomorrow is another match. Even if I have a good record against her in our last meetings, I think I lost only once. But it doesn't mean anything right now because tomorrow the conditions will be different. It depends on so many things."
-- WTA