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Eyeing the top Davenport beats Coetzer, edges closer to No. 1
Updated: Wednesday October 31, 2001 4:01 PM MUNICH, Germany (AP) -- Lindsay Davenport moved closer to ending the year No. 1 Wednesday but it was three teen-agers who shone Wednesday at the Sanex Championships. Davenport, who could pass top-ranked Jennifer Capriati at the year-ending event, ran her winning streak to 13 matches with a 6-3, 6-3 victory against South Africa's Amanda Coetzer. "The rankings have nothing to do with how I'm playing. I've always played well indoors. I feel like I'm probably the best player indoors," Davenport said. The other players to advance were Kim Clijsters, 18, Justine Henin, 19, and Yugoslav Jelena Dokic, 18. Davenport next faces Dokic, the world No. 9, who ousted American Meghann Shaughnessy, 7-6 (4), 6-2. Belgium's Justine Henin, the No. 6, beat Anke Huber at the $3 million event 6-1, 6-2. Countrywoman Kim Clijsters, No. 5, slipped past Russia's Elena Dementieva, 6-3, 7-6 (4). Huber, a former Australian Open finalist, played the last match of her career in losing to Dokic. She had said beforehand this was her final event. Davenport's match against Coetzer, the world No. 16, was over in just 72 minutes when she slammed a volley into the open court. The American is just a few ranking points behind Capriati, ending her season with a charge by winning three titles in as many weeks since coming to Europe. But she said she wasn't thinking about ending the year No. 1 and didn't deserve it. "It's never crossed my mind in the last month. I've always felt the No. 1 player should have excelled in the biggest tournaments and those are the grand slams," Davenport said. "Capriati and [Venus] Williams deserve it because they've won the slams." Capriati, the top seed, won her first round match Tuesday, struggling past Bulgaria's Magdalena Maleeva in three sets. Davenport has faced and beaten Dokic in the final of both the last two events she won, Zurich and Linz. "I know that I have too keep working but there will be a time when I beat her," said Dokic, who is on a tear of her own by reaching five finals in six events. She let a 4-1 lead slip away against Shaughnessy in the first set, then won the tiebreak when the 22-year-old American drove a ball into the net. The 19-year-old Henin needed just 55 minutes to overpower Huber, who originally planned to quit after the Australian Open. But when the German unexpectedly qualified for the year-ending championships, she decided to end her career at home. "I've just had enough. A lot of things have just come together, my injuries, the traveling -- I just want a normal life," said Huber, 26. But she had little chance against Henin, who lost the Wimbledon final to Venus Williams, and couldn't match the consistency and power of the Belgium player. "I would like to have played better, but knowing it was my last match, I was a little cramped," said Huber. She won 12 titles in her career and reached the No. 4 ranking, but often stood in the shadow of fellow German Steffi Graf, a huge hero in their country. Henin next faces Serena Williams. Clijsters used three double faults by Dementieva to win the second set tiebreaker. But the second set was the best of the tournament thus far, resembling a three-match thriller they played at last year's championships won by Dementieva. The championships are being played for the first time outside of Madison Square Garden since 1978. "I've liked it a lot so far. The court is very nice," said Davenport of Munich's Olympiahalle. In the past, the event has variously been known as the Chase Championships and the Masters and is supposed to bring together the world's 16 best players. This year's edition has 13 of 16. Venus Williams and Martina Hingis pulled out with injuries and Monica Seles didn't enter.
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