Injury Curtails La Costa Drama

Light rain and an injured opponent turned Lindsay Davenport’s latest tournament victory into something of an anticlimactic event at the Toshiba Tennis Classic at the La Costa Resort and Spa.

Still there was progress in a larger sense for the second-seeded Davenport of Newport Beach, who needed only 52 minutes to defeat unseeded Mary Pierce of France, 6-3, 6-1, in the final on Sunday.

Through her consistent play at the last two Grand Slams, and now a two-tournament, eight-match winning streak, Davenport has slowly cut into the once-sizable lead of top-ranked Martina Hingis on the WTA computer.

Heading into the French Open, Hingis’ lead over Davenport was a lofty 3,000 points. Now the difference between No. 1 and No. 2 has been whittled down to about 500 points.

Think of it like this: Before Davenport might as well as have been in another state in her pursuit of No. 1. Now, she is in the same area code and there is a slim chance she could take possession of No. 1 after the U.S. Open, which starts later this month.

“I’m going to have to step up my performances in Grand Slams,” said Davenport, who won $79,000 for the singles title and split $23,750 with her partner Natasha Zvereva for winning the doubles.

“Martina [Hingis] still has a number of tournaments left to play, could do very well. It’s not really in my mind. . . . It’s slowly getting there. But if I’m going to do it, I’ll have to win the Open in New York.”

To that end, Davenport has defeated almost all the big names these last two weeks--Steffi Graf and Venus Williams at Stanford, and Wimbledon finalist Nathalie Tauziat, Seles and the resurgent Pierce here.

“You know, I’ve played really close matches the last few tournaments, toughed these matches out and given myself opportunities to win a tournament,” she said. “That’s what it takes.”

Pierce, ranked No. 16, found the ending bittersweet after a marvelous tournament in which she defeated Venus Williams in the quarterfinals and fought off three match points against Hingis in a semifinal victory.

But Pierce, 23, has been beset by injuries and ailments all year. She nearly withdrew on Friday against Williams when she was unable to grip her racket.

Her year took another odd turn when she felt a pain in her right leg at practice on Sunday morning.

“At the end of my practice, I was hitting serves and I hit one serve and I felt a pain in my leg,” she said. “I think it’s either my quad or groin, pretty high, pretty deep.”

It became clear right away that Pierce’s mobility was inhibited as she needed attention from the trainer in the first set. In one first-set stretch, Davenport won 10 consecutive points against the injured Pierce.

‘I was quite upset about it after the match, not before it,” Pierce said. “I tried to do what I could with it during the match. I’m frustrated, disappointed because I’ve been having a great week, getting better and better every day.”

Davenport remained focused despite a short rain delay during the changeover in the first set, when she was leading, 4-3. In all, Davenport dropped six points on her serve, three of them double faults.

In her typical modest fashion, Davenport wasn’t declaring Hingis’ recent struggles to be a serious slump, and said she didn’t think it was even a slump.

“I see her being discouraged,” Davenport said. “She didn’t win the French, she didn’t win Wimbledon. She wants to win so badly now.

“She doesn’t like it when other people are winning the big tournaments. I have no doubt she’ll be back and be ready.”