Davenport Still Has Aces Left

Lindsay Davenport 1, Aching Arm 0.

When a sore right arm forced Davenport to retire from the final at New Haven, Conn., in the second set against Justine Henin-Hardenne on Saturday, there was a deep concern about her opening match at the U.S. Open on Monday.

Those questions were answered in less than an hour. The 10th-seeded Davenport, of Laguna Beach, hit nine aces on her way to a 6-1, 6-4 relatively straightforward victory against Klara Koukalova Zakopalova of the Czech Republic. In the second round, she will play Jelena Kostanic of Croatia who defeated Shinobu Asagoe of Japan, 6-4, 7-6 (4), in the first round.

“I’ve actually never had an arm injury,” Davenport said. “I think I’ve had every other injury known to a tennis player but an arm injury. It’s kind of the unknown dealing with it. It was playable today. Now that I have every other day off, I think I’ll be able to kind of make it better as the tournament goes on.”

It was rather intimidating when she couldn’t move her arm the morning of the final against Henin-Hardenne, as the pain went down to her elbow and forearm.

“But it’s something unknown. I was going like this,” she said, moving her arm with the other arm. “Didn’t feel lively at all. I felt horrible from the time I woke up because I knew it was going to be an ugly day for everybody.”

At 30, Davenport is asked questions about her future in almost every news conference. She plans to play two more tournaments after the U.S. Open, including one in Beijing, and call it a season. The 2007 Australian Open remains a question mark.

Someone suggested that the best way to describe her plans for next year was undecided.

“Yeah, I think that’s probably good. It’s true,” she said.

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The teenager who beat Zakopalova in the first round last year, Vania King of Long Beach, was playing in her first Grand Slam since turning professional. On Monday, King beat former top-10 player Alicia Molik of Australia, 6-3, 6-2.

King, 17, will next play second-seeded Henin-Hardenne of Belgium. Henin-Hardenne’s hitting partner in New York? King’s older brother, Phillip, according to Vania. Wonder whether that will change?