Without the Williams sisters, Lindsay Davenport finds herself the lone American at the WTA Championships, where she and Kim Clijsters are contending for the year-end No. 1 ranking.
Davenport takes a 155-point lead over the second-ranked Belgian into the season-ending tournament that begins Tuesday at Staples Center.
Clijsters' statistics are better than Davenport's, having won nine titles and 66 matches to six tournaments and 58 matches for the American.
PHOTO: AP
"I never thought I could have a season like this," said Clijsters, who missed the tournament last year because of wrist surgery.
Davenport will try to end the year at No. 1 for the fourth time in her career.
"It's a great goal to have and it's a great kind of incentive this week," she said Monday. "If it doesn't happen, it's not something that is going to worry me all that much. Kim totally deserves it."
Clijsters is equally sanguine about regaining the top spot to cap a year in which she won the US Open for her first Grand Slam title.
"It would just make the year even more special, but it's not like it's on my mind now," she said.
"If it happens, great. If it doesn't, that's not going to make my year worse," Clijsters said.
Davenport and Clijsters both have played well since the US Open, where the American lost a three-set quarterfinal to Elena Dementieva.
Davenport won all three of the tournaments she played since; Clijsters won two of three.
Davenport was to open yesterday against Russian Nadia Petrova, while Clijsters took on Mary Pierce, and Maria Sharapova played Patty Schnyder in a round-robin format that will decide the four semifinalists. Dementieva and Amelie Mauresmo are in action today.
"I feel like I've never really played all that well at Staples, and I'd like to change that," said Davenport, a four-time finalist who has won the season-ending championships once.
Ending its four-year run in Los Angeles before moving to Madrid next year, the tournament is without the Williams sisters, who failed to qualify for the eight-player field. Bothered by injuries, Australian Open winner Serena and Wimbledon champion Venus took the rest of the year off after losing in Beijing in September.
French Open winner Justine Henin-Hardenne qualified, but is out with a hamstring injury.
"It definitely would make it more exciting if three of the four Grand Slam winners were here," Davenport said. "You can't force someone to go out on the court when they don't feel like they want to compete at this level."
Clijsters, the 2003 winner, missed last year while recovering from wrist surgery.
"I'm just happy to be here after just watching it on TV last year," she said. "The goal I set at the start of this year was trying to get to the championships, and I did. I want to play as well as I have been throughout this whole year."
Sharapova is the defending champion and the only other player besides Davenport and Clijsters to reach No. 1 this year, having spent seven weeks at the top between August and last month. She reached the semifinals at three of the four Grand Slam tournaments.
A seven-year-old horse had to be euthanized on Friday after breaking its back on the final fence of a Grand National steeplechase race that it won despite sustaining the serious injury. It follows the death of four horses at the Cheltenham Festival last month — including one after the prestigious Gold Cup. Gold Dancer was competing in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase during Ladies Day at Aintree’s Grand National Festival. The horse managed to cross the finish line approximately four lengths ahead of runner-up Regent’s Stroll. “The winner of our second race of the day, Gold Dancer, was pulled up after
Taiwanese gymnast Tang Chia-hung on Sunday topped the men’s horizontal bar event at the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) World Cup in Osijek, Croatia, scoring 15.233 to take his third title this season. Tang delivered an outstanding performance in the final, earning a difficulty score of 6.500 and an execution score of 8.633 with a 0.1 stick bonus. His closest competitor was Milad Karimi of Kazakhstan, who finished second with 14.933 points. It was Tang’s third gold medal in the FIG World Cup series this year, following his horizontal bar wins in Azerbaijan on March 8, and in Turkey on March
The Daredevils yesterday took eight catches in the final as they eked out a victory in the Taiwan Cricket Triangular Tournament against PCCT at Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District. PCCT’s batting lineup collapsed after they asked the Daredevils to bowl in the T20 decider of the weekend tournament that also involved the Formosa Cricket Club. PCCT were bundled out for 76 in 16.2 overs against a disciplined Daredevils attack. Ninad Malwade was the top scorer in the innings with 21, but he was among those who offered chances to the fielders. Shane Ferreira and Jason Cameron took three wickets each, with
This year’s Taiwan Athletics Open, which offers Taiwanese athletes an opportunity to compete against their international peers, would be held under a new name after its organizers had earlier announced the event’s cancelation. In a statement issued yesterday, the Chinese Taipei Athletics Association said the competition would still take place on June 6-7 at Banciao Stadium, but under the name “New Taipei City Athletics Open 2026.” The event was given a new name to emphasize its local identity and conform with the international practice of naming World Athletics Tour events after cities, the association said. It said it would soon
RSS