Kournikova Gets Big Victory Over No. 2 Davenport

If you needed a quick update on the Anna Kournikova-Lindsay Davenport match, well, a glance at the scoreboard was hardly necessary.

It was all about body language.

Whether it was the slumped shoulders or the get-me-outta-here grimace, Davenport was clearly going through something of a crisis of confidence. The dominant presence of early 2000 appeared only fleetingly, and the 19-year-old Kournikova was opportunistic enough to seize the match, defeating the second-seeded Davenport, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, in the second round Wednesday at the Acura Classic.

It was hard to say who was happiest at the La Costa Resort & Spa. A thrilled Kournikova, who shouted “Yes” several times when Davenport’s backhand sailed wide on match point, or the legions of teenage boys (and men)--all ardent fans of the attractive Russian.

Her reaction was one of joy and relief. Kournikova, who has endured many a loss after holding a big lead, nearly let Davenport slip away with this one too. Kournikova was ahead 4-0 in the third set, but lost the lead when Davenport won four consecutive games. She fought off two break points--the second with a clean backhand winner--at 5-5 and then broke Davenport in the 12th game, winning the final five points.

“I was really into the match,” Kournikova said. “I didn’t even think about losing.”

It was a major victory for Kournikova, who has landed more appearances on the covers of major magazines than wins against top players. She said it was her biggest victory in the last year, most likely since beating Davenport on clay at Hilton Head, S.C., in the spring of 1999.

In 2000, Davenport had defeated Kournikova three times without losing a set.

“She’s playing much better, a lot more consistent today,” Davenport said. “When she got up, she started choking a bit. I just couldn’t do enough there at the end. . . . That’s the way it goes sometimes.

“Whenever someone is up 4-0, and then I started playing a little bit better and she couldn’t hit a ball in the court, you have to take advantage of that at 4-4 and 5-5 when I had a few break points.”

Kournikova’s upset was the biggest development on a rather routine day. Fourth-seeded Monica Seles beat Meilen Tu, 7-5, 7-5, and fifth-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain defeated Nicole Pratt of Australia, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, in 2 hours 12 minutes.

Wimbledon champion Venus Williams extended her winning streak to 12 matches. She had little trouble against Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, winning, 6-0, 6-4.

Williams is starting to have that feeling of invincibility.

“I think so, I’m very confident right now,” Williams said. “My forehand wasn’t penetrating before, and now I’m hitting it for winners left and right. It’s becoming a weapon.”

Not long ago, Davenport was the invincible one. She won the Australian Open in January and, at one point, had a 21-match winning streak. Injuries have punctured her confidence. For months, she has struggled with a strained groin on each side, and a back injury hampered her in a first-round loss at the French Open. Nevertheless, the Laguna Beach resident managed to make the final in her last two events--Wimbledon and Palo Alto--losing to Williams in both.

Briefly, she looked emotional after the loss to Kournikova.

“It gets frustrating sometimes when you’re not playing that well,” said Davenport, who has not decided whether she will play at Manhattan Beach next week.

“I tried really hard the last two weeks. It’ll turn around somewhere.

“My confidence, surprisingly, isn’t that low. After Wimbledon it picked up a bit when I wasn’t playing that well, and did well. I’ll just keep playing through the summer and see what happens.”

Meanwhile, Kournikova had something of a career-changing experience when she suffered two bad losses, both in the second round, at the French Open and Wimbledon.

“In the last two months I got even more motivated. I wanted to play even more and I wanted to work harder,” she said. “And I think that I’m growing more, finally, at 19. I’m getting experience. Before, I was a bit younger and maybe tried to play too much and not thinking about it.

“I was just going out there like it was an everyday job and I was just going out there playing. Now it’s very exciting for me and I understand the game more, so it makes it even better.”

The early losses were motivational. Others were getting the headlines and she was out of tournaments and out of the spotlight. Sort of.

“That made me want to play even more, not playing so long in the singles tournament,” she said. “I was like, ‘Oh, I should have been there.’ I was working hard, but I was not winning too many matches. Not because I was playing bad, but because I wasn’t playing the right way.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Featured Matches

Selected matches today on the stadium court at the Acura Classic:

* 11 a.m.: Nathalie Tauziat (6) vs. Elena Likhovtseva.

* 1 p.m: Venus Williams (3) vs. Conchita Martinez (5); Sandrine Testud (8) vs. Tatiana Panova.

* 7 p.m.: Martina Hingis (1) vs. Amy Frazier.