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.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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.
PHOTO: EPA
"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.
Hernych, ranked 109th in the world, beat Gustavo Kuerten to advance to the quarterfinals but was no match for Roddick, who held serve at love to close out the match in just over an hour.
Roddick, whose serve has only been broken once in the tournament, said he watched Thursday's match between Kuerten and Hernych ahead of the quarterfinals.
"I didn't know anything about his game before," Roddick said. "I definitely was thankful that I got a chance to catch that one and watch the whole match."
Roddick, who lost to Federer in the Wimbledon final earlier this summer, will play Nicolas Kiefer in the semifinals. Kiefer beat Jurgen Melzer 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.
Federer conceded playing the unorthodox Santoro was a challenge.
"He's a righty, but he plays forehand like a lefty so the ball comes to you as a backhand, like a slice," he said. "It's tough to take chances off the line. My advantage against him is I'm serving better than he does. That always gives me time to actually relax."
Federer's streak is the longest since Pete Sampras won 24 straight in 1999. Federer has also won the last three tournaments he's entered, including Wimbledon.
But he said he's not too focused on the numbers.
"Obviously, I start to wonder how many is that all together," Federer said. "I thought about it last night and said `I am not here to just keep that streak going,'" he said. "I am here to actually concentrate on each and every match and hopefully try to win the tournament. And if the streak continues, that's fine."
Johansson defeated Joachim Johansson 6-3, 7-6 (5) in the quarterfinals. Federer is 6-0 in his career against Johansson, who originally lost in the qualifying tournament but then ended up in the main draw when Taylor Dent withdrew with an injury.
"I was here the whole time just waiting for someone to pull out," Johansson said. "It's a funny feeling actually, you just wait for someone to get injured."
Johansson missed most of the 2003 season with a knee injury.
"I've been working very hard," he said. "My knee feels very good. I haven't felt anything for the last couple months."
Because of rain earlier in the week, Federer played twice Thursday, defeating Robin Soderling and Max Mirnyi in straight sets.
Federer said the three quick matches were tough.
"Overall it's just exhausting to play two matches in one day and then you have to come back and play again. And you have to play again if you win the next day. So it's more a mental tough when you win than anything else," he said.
The 58th-ranked Santoro, who upset No. 9 Lleyton Hewitt to reach the quarterfinals, said he enjoys playing Federer.
"If I'm out of shape it can be a nightmare," he said. "The way I was playing today ... it was probably one of the most fun matches I've played in a long time."
In doubles, top-seeded twins Bob and Mike Bryan were upset 6-1, 6-4 by Jared Palmer and Pavel Vizner.
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