Now Carson’s Draw Is Hurting

The cloud hovering over the U.S. Open Series, and more specifically the three Southern California tennis events, has traveled to Carson from La Costa Resort and Spa.

Last year’s finalists, Lindsay Davenport and Serena Williams, withdrew Friday from the JPMorgan Chase Open at the Home Depot Center in Carson, which starts Monday. Williams, who has not played since losing in the third round to Jill Craybas at Wimbledon, has been hobbled by an injured left ankle.

Williams practiced Friday morning, according to an AEG official, but it apparently didn’t go well enough for her to stay in the tournament. The ankle has long troubled her, limiting Williams to four matches since she initially hurt it in early April at Amelia Island, Fla. Her next scheduled event is the Rogers Cup in Toronto, but her participation anywhere is uncertain.

The defending champion and No. 1-ranked Davenport is dealing with an injury that has career ramifications. She suffered the back injury in the third set of her Wimbledon final against Venus Williams and hurt it again in practice last week at the Stanford event, and quit playing after only five games in her opening match there.

“I am very disappointed that I have to withdraw from the JPMorgan Chase Open and will be unable to defend my title,” Davenport said in a statement. “I feel this is my hometown tournament and one in which I have always looked forward to playing. My back is just not ready yet.”

Davenport will probably lose her No. 1 ranking to Maria Sharapova of Russia next week. Sharapova withdrew from the Acura Classic because of a back injury but is still scheduled to play in Carson.

The absence of Davenport, Serena Williams and Sharapova devastated the field at Carlsbad. Officials had tried to persuade Venus Williams to accept a wild card, but she declined because of a busy schedule. Although she is in the draw of next week’s tournament at Stockholm, it is doubtful she will end up playing.

At Carlsbad, all of the withdrawals and a series of upsets led to tonight’s unexpected semifinal featuring Ai Sugiyama of Japan against countrywoman Akiko Morigami.

Sugiyama, who is 2-0 against Morigami, had not even made a quarterfinal in 2005 before this tournament, and Morigami lost in the final of a $170,000 event at Cincinnati in July. In Friday’s quarterfinals, Morigami beat 18-year-old Anna Chakvetadze of Russia, 6-3, 6-4. Sugiyama had even less trouble, winning, 6-1, 6-2, against 15-year-old Sesil Karatantcheva of Bulgaria.

Today’s first semifinal, at 1 p.m., will feature No. 6-seeded Mary Pierce of France against Shuai Peng of China, who defeated No. 7 Kim Clijsters of Belgium, 6-4, 6-4. Pierce, who defeated No. 5 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, 6-4, 6-3, has not lost a set in three matches.

Clijsters was simply outplayed by the rapidly improving 19-year-old, whose hard hitting kept the Belgian on the defensive. Peng’s only lapse of note came when she dropped serve at 4-1 in the second set and let Clijsters cut the lead to 4-3. The loss ended Clijsters’ 26-match win streak on U.S. hard courts.

“I think she has a great future ahead of her,” Clijsters said of Peng. “She’s the best player I’ve played in a long time. Everything together, the groundstrokes, the movement. I think she can definitely become top-three.”