Davenport struggles in attempt to repeat 1998 triumph

Lindsay Davenport can remember vividly the last time the United States Open women's singles title was not in the hands of the Williams sisters. It was five years ago, when Davenport defeated Martina Hingis, the defending champion, in the final.

The problem is that the 27-year-old Californian is having to play here in New York from memory, because her movement is hampered by an injury to her left foot which requires surgery. Although the third-seeded Davenport advanced to the quarter-finals yesterday, her display in defeating Nadia Petrova, of Russia, 6-0, 6-7, 6-2, lacked the authority to suggest that she is going to win the title a second time.

The 19th-ranked Petrova, who was defeated by Kim Clijsters in the semi-finals of the French Open, where Clijsters and her Belgian compatriot Justine Henin-Hardenne contested the final, was overpowered by Davenport in the opening set yesterday, mustering only two winning shots.

In the second set, however, the frailty of Davenport's left foot was evident, even though her spirit remained strong to the concluding point of the tie-break, which Petrova won 8-6. It was the first set Davenport had dropped in the tournament, and although she prevailed in the deciding set, the portents are not good.

Jonas Bjorkman is unlikely to forget Labor Day weekend. The 31-year-old Swede had to wait three hours to replay a match point for a place in the fourth round of the men's singles. What Bjorkman did not realise was that the precious point may have guaranteed him a place in the quarter-finals.

Guillermo Coria, the Argentinian fifth seed, who eliminated Andre Agassi at the French Open, is likely to withdraw from his fourth round match against Bjorkman because of the recurrence of a groin injury. Having carried the injury during the French Open, where he lost in the semi-finals to the Dutchman Martin Verkerk, Coria does not want to jeopardise his prospects of being fit for Argentina's Davis Cup semi-final in Spain in less than two weeks.

Coria, like Bjorkman, had an unusual day here on Saturday. After a three-hour rain delay, the Argentinian had to wait a further hour to resume his third round match against Gregory Carraz, of France, because oil from a drying machine had leaked on to the Grandstand Court. The match was switched to Court 10. It was there, during the second set of his straight-sets win, that Coria aggravated his injury.

When the rain started, Bjorkman was leading Karol Kucera, of Slovakia, 6-4, 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 5-4 and had an advantage point for the match. The Swede served and started to rally, but slipped twice on the court. The umpire, Carlos Ramos, fearing for the players' safety, suspended the match, mid-point.

Bjorkman then had three hours to mull over his match-point strategy. When the players re-emerged on to court, the Swede missed his first serve, made his second, and won a brief baseline rally when Kucera hit a forehand wide. "The end was pretty dramatic," Bjorkman said. "I've never been around a situation like that before."

After 45 minutes' rest, Bjorkman went on to win a second-round doubles match in partnership with Todd Woodbridge against Rainer Schüttler and Yves Allegro, a surname hardly in keeping with Saturday's proceedings.

Even Andy Roddick appears to have had a restless start to his 21st birthday. Having defeated Ivan Ljubicic to reach the third round, the American fourth seed arrived in the interview room to discover that his Croatian opponent had just had a rant to the effect that Roddick was disliked by all the other players "because of the way he acted on court".

After describing Ljubicic's comments as "sour grapes," Roddick decided to telephone him for an explanation. Their conversation was interrupted when Roddick's car went through a tunnel. Roddick called back at about 1.30am, waking Ljubicic. They talked again in person here later.

"As I was surprised by his phone call, he was surprised by the things he thought that I was saying about him," Ljubicic said. "I wanted to say that I didn't like his attitude on court, not just last night: generally. The second thing is that obviously I was upset by some of the calls of the linesmen. I have nothing against Andy as a person."