August 14, 1998
By J. Fred Sidhu
Carlsbad, Ca. It was back in February when American Lindsay Davenport became the number two female tennis player in the world.
It was Davenport's highest career ranking, but she was still almost 2,000 points behind Martina Hingis who seemed to have a lock on the top spot in the computer rankings.
The gap between Davenport and Hingis has closed dramatically as Davenport won last week's Toshiba Tennis Classic at the La Costa Resort & Spa with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over an injured Mary Pierce before a sellout crowd of 6,200.
With her victory at the Toshiba along with her win at a tournament in Northern California the previous week, the six-foot-two-and-a-half Davenport in now only 484 points away from the number one spot.
Can Davenport become the number one player in the world?
"It's not really in my mind. I think I'm going to have to step up my performances in Grand Slams," said Davenport, who has never reached the final of a Grand Slam.
"Martina still has a number of tournaments left this summer to play and she could do very well," she added. "She's been so far ahead of everybody for a number of months, a year. I was truly shocked that I was only 500 or 600 points behind, which is still a lot."
If Davenport continues her winning streak and goes on to win the U.S. Open, which will be played at Flushing Meadows, New York in September, she could conceivably overtake Hingis.
"The Open is so many weeks away. I'm starting off the hardcourt season great. All I can do is hope to continue that. Obviously, it's going to give me a lot of confidence going in there in a few weeks, but every tournament is a new tournament," Davenport explained.
Who will challenge Davenport at the Open?
Hingis is in a slump and has not won a tournament since winning the Italian Open in late Spring. In her semi-final loss to Pierce at the Toshiba, she squandered a 4-1 lead in the second set and lost three match points in the second set tie-breaker. She later admitted she "gave up" in the third set.
Venus Williams is suffering from tendinitis in her left knee which forced her to retire in her quarterfinal match last week with Pierce.
Mary Pierce looked sharp at the last week's Toshiba until she strained her upper right thigh while practicing for the final last Sunday morning. Inconsistency is probably this talented Frenchwoman's biggest weakness.
Steffi Graf is still struggling to regain her championship form as she lost a tight three set match in the second round of the Toshiba to Ai Sugi-yama of Japan.
Monica Seles complained of fatigue and a sore back all last week and was visibly tired after her loss to Davenport in a thrilling three-set match.
This could be the best opportunity for the tall, hard-serving Californian to make a breakthrough and win a Grand Slam.
Lindsay Davenport, 1998 U.S. Open Champion? It does have a ring to it.
ATTENDANCE RECORD
The 1998 Toshiba Tennis Classic was a smashing success with tennis fans as the tournament drew 81,989 for the week which marks a 15.7 percent increase over last year.
There were five sold out sessions including last Saturday's semifinals and last Sunday's finals.
A DOUBLE WINNER
Davenport won $79,000 for her singles title at La Costa. For good measure, she teamed with Natasha Zvereva to win the doubles title over Nathalie Tauziat and Alexandra Fusai of France, 6-2, 6-1.
Zvereva and Davenport split $23,500 for winning the doubles title.
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