These Finalists Are Cut Above

Whether or not the final between Lindsay Davenport and Chanda Rubin today in Manhattan Beach is a testament to hours of rehabilitation, sheer persistence and willpower, Rubin also knows it’s a tribute to one very good doctor in Vail, Colo.

“Dr. Steadman is the man right about now,” Rubin said, laughing.

Richard Steadman is the noted knee surgeon who operated on the two tennis stars in January, only days apart. Davenport joked that she was jealous when Rubin progressed faster than she did in the early days of rehabilitation.

Rubin maintained the lead when she won a grass-court tournament at Eastbourne, England, in June, but Davenport came back and beat Rubin at La Costa in three sets about a week and a half ago. The next round is for considerably higher stakes in the final of the JPMorgan Chase Open at the Manhattan Country Club. It is Davenport’s first final since returning to the tour last month.

“There’s no question I’m tired, physically,” Davenport said. “Mentally, I’m still excited. I have a chance to win my first title of the year. I didn’t think it would come nearly this quick.”

If Davenport, the defending champion and third-seeded player, had a relatively easy 6-3, 6-4 semifinal victory Saturday against Ai Sugiyama of Japan in 67 minutes, then 12th-seeded Rubin practically had a walkover against fourth-seeded Jelena Dokic of Yugoslavia, winning, 6-0, 6-2, in 41 minutes.

The first set lasted 15 minutes, and the crowd of 4,093 was actually quite kind to Dokic. One of the few signs of discontent came in the second-to-last game when Rubin hit a return winner. The crowd booed when Dokic failed to go for it, and a surprised Rubin would talk later of her opponent “packing in it.”

“Well, I was surprised once she started a semi-tank mode a little bit,” said Rubin, who stopped Serena Williams’ 21-match winning streak in the quarterfinals Friday.

“I’m not sure if she had physical problems that sort of reared up in the middle of the match. I’m a little bit surprised that she didn’t try quite as much as I thought she would at the beginning of the second.”

Dokic, who has played three consecutive weeks, complained of having flu earlier in this event. Friday, though, she said she was feeling much better, and she had the shortest and easiest quarterfinal.

However, she took a turn for the worse Saturday.

“I wasn’t feeling good,” Dokic said. “I’ve had a lot of matches and I couldn’t even give 10% out there physically and mentally. Physically I couldn’t move and mentally I couldn’t think the points through.”

Still, Dokic was fit enough to play a doubles semifinal afterward, saying she didn’t want to let partner Kim Clijsters down. Dokic and Clijsters defeated Corina Morariu and Kimberly Po-Messerli, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

“The point where she got booed, that was kind of blatant,” Rubin said. “She just didn’t try for the shot. And it wasn’t a particularly well-hit ball from me. From that point, it was very clear. The last game she kind of got back into it.”

Said Dokic: “I’m really competitive, so it was really hard to hear that. For me it was a little bit frustrating, and mentally I didn’t feel good about that. But hopefully it won’t happen again.”

Rubin had seven aces and hit 17 winners to six for Dokic. Dokic had 40 unforced errors, Rubin 21.

Rubin wasn’t sure what to expect from game to game, much less point to point, from her 19-year-old opponent.

“It’s very difficult,” she said. “You don’t know if they’ve given up totally. They’re still slapping winners around the court. For me, I wanted to keep playing within myself and not go for too much and not let her back in. Sometimes, it’s very difficult.”

The problem will be of a different nature today. Davenport has won eight of their 10 meetings, including the La Costa match, 6-2, 2-6, 6-1. Rubin’s most recent victory against Davenport came in 1995 at Filderstadt, Germany.

“I had a good match with her last week in San Diego,” Rubin said. “I had some chances early in the third set. I’d like to have that back and do a lot better at that moment in time if I get to that point in the match. She’s continued to have matches and played better and better. I’ve played better as well from last week.”

Davenport, who has won three Grand Slam singles titles and finished last year ranked No. 1, was concerned about her future when she learned she needed knee surgery in January.

“That, for sure, was my biggest fear besides not being able to play again,” she said. “No. 2 was coming back and not being good and not being successful. It’s hard when you’ve been successful. I’ve been in the top three for five years. I didn’t want to come back out here and be a top-50 player. I was definitely worried in the beginning.”

Those fears subsided once she defeated Dokic in the quarterfinals in her first tournament back on the circuit, last month at Palo Alto. She was up a set and 4-2 in the second against Clijsters in the semifinals, started musing about the ease of it all and promptly lost in three sets.

“It was important to get off to a good start,” Davenport said. “If you start off coming back from an injury not playing well sometimes, it can keep snowballing where you lose all your confidence.”