Fatigued Kournikova blown away by Dokic
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Your support makes all the difference.Anna Kournikova missed two match points and was blown away in the third set by Jelena Dokic, of Yugoslavia, who advanced to the final of the Acura Classic here with a 6-7, 7-6, 6-0 win.
"Of course I'm disappointed to lose it, but the tension is out," Kournikova said. "I'm really happy with the results in general and with the way I played. The good thing is there is something to work on. I can always improve."
Kournikova, who played with her left thigh wrapped, used the momentum from her first-set victory and the support of the crowd to lead 5-4 in the middle set. She had two match points on Dokic's serve, but Dokic held on and forced another tiebreaker.
"I had those two chances and Dokic served really, really well," Kournikova said.
Dokic took advantage of Kournikova's fatigue due to five matches in five days to win the decisive third in 21 minutes. "Today, the pace was much faster," Kournikova said. "I got tired when I finished the first set."
Dokic is attempting to win her sixth WTA tournament, whereas Kournikova is still without a singles championship in 113 WTA tournaments, reaching only three finals. But she said: "This tournament has been great, everything has come together and I'm winning more and more matches."
In the other semi-final, top-seed Venus Williams beat No 3 seed Lindsay Davenport 6-2, 6-1. The two-times defending champion needed only an hour to put away the overwhelmed Davenport. With the first set tied 2-2, Williams won eight games in a row to take command and level the head-to-head record between them at 10 apiece. But Saturday's win was the most one-sided and means Williams has won nine of their last 11 meetings.
"I definitely was not prepared to play at the level I needed to," Davenport said. "It happened so fast. It just kept going and going, and getting worse and worse, like a nightmare."
Venus's father and coach Richard was vocal in his support. Early in the second set, as Davenport walked over to change rackets, he yelled: "You might as well go home".
Venus said: "Sometimes he does encourage me. It's nice to have a cheerleader."
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