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NEW HAVEN (Connecticut), Aug 23: Lindsay Davenport continued her roll in New Haven.
Davenport, who has yet to lose a set this week, moved into the final of the 625,000 WTA hardcourt tournament with a 6-4, 6-2 triumph over Elena Dementieva of Russia.
In Saturday’s final she’ll face compatriot Jennifer Capriati, the third seed, who was leading Amelie Mauresmo 6-3, 3-1 when the Frenchwoman retired with a stomach ailment.
Mauresmo still leads their head-to-head series 5-4.
The top seed, Davenport reached the final for the fourth straight year. She was runner-up on each occasion to Venus Williams, who is not defending her title because of an abdominal injury that also caused her to withdraw from next week’s US Open.
Dementieva was coming off a 6-1, 6-1 rout of Cara Black of Zimbabwe in the quarter-finals on Thursday.
She was also playing in her second semifinal in two weeks after reaching the final four in Toronto last week and is
projected to rise to No.11 on next week’s WTA Singles Rankings, her highest position since Sept 2001.
Semifinals results: Lindsay Davenport (USA x1) bt Elena Dementieva (RUS) 6-4, 6-2; Jennifer Capriati (USA x3) bt Amelie Mauresmo (FRA x2) 6-3, 3-1, ret
Aynaoui STUNs Kuerten
LONG ISLAND (New York): Younes El Aynaoui battled his way to a 7-6 6-4 upset victory over second seed Gustavo Kuerten to move into the semifinals of the TD Waterhouse Cup on Friday.
Joining the Moroccan in the last four is defending champion and top seed Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand, who cruised to a 6-4 6-3 victory over American qualifier Jeff Morrison.
El Aynaoui, the number seven seed, ran off 16 straight points on his own serve at one point to oust the three-time French Open champion from the final warm-up event for the U.S. Open.
His next opponent is American James Blake, who will be looking for his second career title after rallying to defeat Finland’s Jarrko Nieminen 4-6 6-2 6-3 to secure his place in Saturday’s semifinals.
Quarter-final results:
Paradorn Srichaphan bt Jeff Morrison 6-4 6-3; Younes El Aynaoui bt Gustavo Kuerten 7-6 (7-4) 6-4; Nicolas Kiefer bt Juan Ignacio Chela 6-1 3-0 retired; James Blake bt Jarkko Nieminen 4-6 6-2 6-3.—Reuters
