Tennis: Davenport in U.S. Open finals

Joseph Boo

NEW YORK - Palisade Tennis Club member and former Newport Beach

resident Lindsay Davenport will play for her second U.S. Open title and

fourth Grand Slam today against Venus Williams.

Davenport, the No. 2 seed, reached the finals with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-5)

victory over unseeded Elena Dementieva on Friday. Davenport had a 5-2

lead in the second set and was up 40-love before 18-year-old Dementieva,

the first Russian to reach the U.S. Open semifinals, came back to force a

tiebreaker.

Davenport last won the U.S. Open in 1998 and is gunning for her fourth

Grand Slam title. She also won the Australian Open this year and

Wimbledon in 1999.

Williams, the No. 3 seed, is currently on a 25-match winning streak,

the longest on the WTA Tour this year. She defeated Davenport in this

year’s Wimbledon finals for her first Grand Slam title. This is the first

All-American U.S. Open women’s final since 1984.