Women’s tennis: Davenport continues to roll

MELBOURNE, Australia - Newport Beach’s Lindsay Davenport advanced

to the semifinals of the Australian Open following Tuesday’s 6-1, 6-2 win

over ninth-seeded Julie Halard-Decugis.

Davenport had nine aces and yielded only five points on her first six

service games, controlling the match right from the beginning.

The win sets up an All-American semifinal matchup with Davenport and

Jennifer Capriati, who was actually a role model of Davenport’s, despite

being the same age.

Capriati burst onto the tennis scene at age 13, reaching a Grand Slam

semifinal match by age 14.

After years of personal problems, Capriati returned to the tennis scene

in 1996, but didn’t have much of an impact on the sport until last year,

where she reached the fourth round of the French Open and U.S. Open.