Dusting Off the Golden Oldies

Not only were two players undefeated after the first two days of the season-ending WTA Tour Championships at Staples Center, but they happened to be the two oldest in the field.

Who ever said you had to be a teenager to dominate women’s tennis?

Twenty-nine-and-over has rarely looked so good. Top-ranked Lindsay Davenport, 29, has not dropped a set in two matches, defeating Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, 6-3, 7-5, on Wednesday night in 68 minutes, hitting seven aces. Schnyder is 0-2 in the round-robin format.

Later, Davenport’s chances of finishing the year ranked No. 1 took a decided upturn. No. 2 Kim Clijsters of Belgium, who trails Davenport by 155 points, lost for the second match in a row, this time against Amelie Mauresmo of France, who won 6-3, 7-6 (4). The announced crowd was 3,911, down from Tuesday’s 5,107.

Two of the three matches went three sets on the first night. Clijsters lost her opening round-robin match to Pierce on Tuesday in three sets, and is in jeopardy of not making the semifinals.

Wednesday started with 30-year-old Mary Pierce of France hitting a milestone, winning her 500th match on the tour. Pierce defeated Elena Dementieva of Russia, 6-2, 6-3, in 69 minutes, a rematch of their U.S. Open semifinal in September, which Pierce won in three sets.

Pierce, suffering from a sore right shoulder, was oblivious of her career mark until it was mentioned by a reporter.

“Sweet. I didn’t know that. I can retire now,” she said, joking. “This is just amazing. It is my 17th year on the tour, I think. Five hundred -- that is pretty cool. I am proud of that.”

Pierce has won two titles in 2005 -- San Diego and Moscow -- and reached two Grand Slam finals, losing to Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium in the French Open and Clijsters in the U.S. Open. Dementieva defeated Pierce after the U.S. Open in the Fed Cup final between Russia and France, and noticed a difference here.

On Wednesday, Pierce hit 16 winners to nine for Dementieva, and converted five of six break points.

“I have never seen her playing that well,” Dementieva said. “I think she is playing the best ever. And I’ve played her many times.”

Pierce thought it was to her advantage to have played Clijsters right away, considering that the Belgian was favored, by some, to win the title here.

“After the match, I was talking to my team, and I was saying that was actually a great thing to play Kim first,” Pierce said. “And after playing her, I would say everybody else is going to be easier only in the sense because Kim is the quickest.”

One of Pierce’s peers, Davenport, could well appreciate Pierce’s longevity and the 500th match victory.

“She definitely had a very up and down career for many, many reasons,” Davenport said. “And injuries being one of them. I think it is so great she has come back and been so consistent and such a dangerous player. Not many people think 30 years old would necessarily be the case.”

Pierce and Davenport go all the way back to a 12-and-under tournament in Boca Raton, Fla. Davenport thought she was 10 and Pierce was 11 when they first played.

“Her dad was around then and I remember definitely being nervous about that,” Davenport said. “He had a temper back then. But she was great. She killed me in the tournament. It was on a clay court. But she always hit the ball so well. And my sister who took me to that tournament still loves to talk about that to this day.”

Even in those days, the 11-year-old Pierce had her own, well, special style.

“You know, she had her same quirks back then. She took a lot of time or played with her hair,” Davenport said.