Lindsay Davenport just keeps rolling on the hardcourts of her native California.
She defeated Ai Sugiyama 6-1, 6-3 in 56 minutes Friday at the Acura Classic to advance to the semifinals of her third consecutive hardcourt tournament.
Davenport won titles at Stanford and Carson the last two weeks while defeating Serena (once) and Venus Williams (twice) for the first time in four years. Davenport has a 12-match winning streak, her longest in nearly three years.
"I'm really proud of myself that I've been able to come back and be at a top level again," said Davenport, who missed chunks of time because of right knee surgery in 2002 and left foot surgery in October.
"I thought playing three [consecutive] weeks was going to be tough, but so far my body has held up great."
The US$1.3 million tournament received its second jolt in three days when Serena Williams withdrew Friday because of swelling in her left knee, the same one she had operated on a year ago that kept her off the WTA Tour for eight months.
Venus Williams withdrew Tuesday because of a sprained right wrist, an injury she initially sustained last week before her semifinal against Davenport in Carson. Williams has two titles in 12 tournaments this year.
The injury-plagued sisters have been playing more in recent weeks, including entering the same tournaments, in an effort to boost their rankings. Venus has dropped to 10th in the world; Serena is 14th this week.
"It would be premature to underestimate them," Davenport said.
"They'll get to the point where they don't want to be losing. I would imagine pretty soon they're going to put a bigger commitment into tennis. I know they're not happy with the way the last few months have gone."
Serena Williams' withdrawal opened up the top half of the draw for the Russians, who were guaranteed three of the four semifinal berths.
Vera Zvonareva, who lost to Serena last week, advanced when Williams pulled out before their rematch. She will play sixth-seed Anastasia Myskina, who defeated Maria Sharapova 7-5, 6-2.
"It's been a hard 12 months for me, but I'm really on the comeback," Williams told the crowd. "I'm so sorry. I promise to be here next year in the finals."
Elena Dementieva, seeded fifth, defeated Amy Frazier 6-2, 6-1 in 62 minutes. She will play Davenport in Saturday's semifinals at La Costa Resort and Spa.
Davenport improved to 10-1 in her career against the eighth-seeded Sugiyama, a four-time quarterfinalist in Carlsbad. It was a rematch of 2002, when Davenport also won a straight-sets quarterfinal at the Acura Classic.
Davenport, who lives north of here in Laguna Beach, won the first five games before being broken. She broke Sugiyama in the next game to close out the set. She led 4-1 in the second set before Sugiyama won two straight games. But Davenport broke and then served out the match.
Dementieva, a semifinalist last week in Carson, had little trouble with Frazier. If she reaches the final, Dementieva possibly could face Myskina, who beat her in the first all-Russian French Open final in June.
Masters Canada
AP, Toronto
Top-ranked Roger Federer stretched his winning streak to 21 matches by beating Fabrice Santoro 7-5, 6-4 to reach the Tennis Masters Canada semifinals.
Federer, who has won three straight tournaments since losing in the third round of the French Open, will play Thomas Johansson on Saturday. Defending champion Andy Roddick, the No. 2 seed, beat qualifier Jan Hernych 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the US$2.5 million tournament.
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