Davenport Doesn’t Slide, She Falls in French Open

For Lindsay Davenport, the clay-court season is something that must be endured.

Like most unpleasant things, it eventually ends.

Which is why Davenport was seeing the glass as half full, not half empty, after losing to Steffi Graf of Germany at the French Open in the quarterfinals Tuesday at Roland Garros.

The sixth-seeded Graf beat the second-seeded Davenport of Newport Beach, 6-1, 6-7 (7-5), 6-3 in 1 hour 54 minutes. In Thursday’s semifinals, Graf plays third-seeded Monica Seles, and top-seeded Martina Hingis of Switzerland meets defending champion and seventh-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain.

Hingis defeated Austrian qualifier Barbara Schwartz, 6-2, 6-2; Seles beat Conchita Martinez of Spain, 6-1, 6-4, and Sanchez Vicario ousted Sylvia Plischke of Austria, 6-2, 6-4.

Last year, Davenport reached the semifinals, losing to Sanchez Vicario in a tight two-setter, certainly a winnable match. The loss to Graf fell into that category as well.

“Losses are always disappointing, especially three-set ones,” Davenport said. “But realistically, I’ll have to look at this. I didn’t play so well the first week. I fought my way through it. I got to the quarters here for at least the third year [second, actually] in a row. I really don’t like this stuff [the clay]. You know, I’m not shy to say it.”

“I don’t move great anyway, and on clay it makes it even worse.”

There’s probably one player out there who likes it even less than Davenport--Pete Sampras, also raised in a practically clay-free zone, Southern California. Sampras doesn’t know how to slide on clay. Davenport won’t even try.

“I don’t like anything about it,” she said. “It’s just a different game. It slows everything down. It’s just slippery and I don’t like that. I like to have footing. That’s just the way it goes.

“Every year, I try to do the best I can on it, have a little bit of fun.”

And hope that the hard-court season gets here quickly.

Nevertheless, Davenport admires sliding clay-courters.

“I’m in awe,” she said, “in awe, no doubt. I cannot get it down. I don’t spend that much time on it anyway. I probably need a good year of just clay. Maybe then I’d be good. For now, I’ll just stick with what I’m doing.”

Graf’s slicing backhand can be a problem for opponents even on hard courts and is much worse on clay. Davenport was playing Graf for the first time on clay and it showed as Graf won the first set in 25 minutes, committing only four unforced errors.

“It was hard,” Davenport said. “I’ve never played her on grass, either. The ball wasn’t coming up on the slice.”

Hingis, Seles and Sanchez Vicario have not lost a set en route to the semifinals, and their quarterfinal matches lacked tension and drama, although Schwartz did take a 2-0 first-set lead over Hingis. Hingis, looking for her first French title, eliminated any chance of another upset--Schwartz had knocked off Venus Williams--by winning the next seven games.

“Venus, she was there, but then somehow she probably lost her mind,” Hingis said of the Schwartz upset in the fourth round.

“Barbara just comes and hits a winner out of nowhere. You have to be 100% ready for what’s going to happen. With her, you don’t know.”

Seles had no such problems in her victory against Martinez. She has lost only once to Martinez in 17 matches, a reality duly noted by Graf. Graf was in the interview room during the Seles-Martinez match.

“You know, against Monica, it’s going to be a difficult match,” Graf said. “I’m not going to look at anything else until I’m getting to that point.”

Reporter: “The match isn’t finished.”

Graf: “I know, but she will win.”

Not long afterward, Graf’s prediction came true, and she will be playing Seles for the 15th time and the second time in 1999. In the Australian Open quarterfinals, Graf led in the first set, then inexplicably fell apart and Seles won, 7-5, 6-1.

“I played a good match until a certain point,” Graf said. “And then it was the worst. I still don’t know what happened then.”

Graf is in the semifinals of a Grand Slam event for the first time since winning the U.S. Open in 1996. Seles, a finalist here last year, lost to Hingis in the semifinals at the Australian Open in January.

“I played fantastic fourth [round] and quarterfinals matches and then in my semifinal match, I deflated against Martina,” Seles said of the Australian. “I didn’t want to do that.

“You never know, but that’s why you try to learn from a match like that, and hopefully I can come out and be different in this semifinal of this Grand Slam.”

No Trouble for Agassi: Andre Agassi easily ushers out injured Marcelo Filippini. No. 9 Marcelo Rios eliminated.: Page 8

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Tale in the Titles

Lifetime records at the French Open of the four women’s semifinalists.

* Martina Hingis: 20-4.

* Monica Seles (three titles): 46-4.

* Steffi Graf (five titles): 85-10.

* Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (three titles): 66-10.

Source: WTA