DAVENPORT LATEST VICTIM IN UNDEFEATED STREAK

It's Serena, Serena and more Serena
Harkleroad's road stopped short by Henin-Hardenne

By Ron Cioffi
tennisreporters.net

Ron Cioffi/tennisreporters.net

FROM THE FAMILY CIRCLE CUP IN CHARLESTON, S.C. – Lindsay Davenport was asked if anyone will beat Serena Williams. The best Davenport could do is make a joke.

"Well, somebody will … eventually," she quipped.
No. 1 Serena Williams played a nearly perfect first set and then pulled out a few aces when she needed them to plow through Davenport in the Family Circle Cup semifinals on Saturday, 6-1, 7-5.

Davenport said that it will take an extraordinary to down the younger (and better) Williams.
"When someone is able to pull out great placement on first serves, on break points down and come up with big shots" Serena will
finally lose….In the last game I had two or three break points and she hits an inch from the line on first serves both times…. I think [she] has the best serve ever in women's tennis."

Davenport hasn't beat the world's best player since the '00 US Open and has a head-to-head 2-9 record against her.

Serena is now 21-0 in her brave, if not audacious, goal of going undefeated this year.

The match displayed all the ingredients that makes Serena a totally dominant player. She started the match with the first of her nine aces and won 27 points compared to only 14 for Davenport in the first set. She cracked seven backhand winners, won all three trips to the net and converted both break points.

"That's how I would like to play tennis," Serena said of her first-set performance.

SECOND SET MUCH MORE OF A CONTEST
In the second set, Serena broke in the opening game and went up 3-1 with three aces in the fourth game.

Just when it was time write Davenport off, the tall Californian began to chip away at Serena's early lead. Lindsay began a determined run, taking three straight games thanks to a more aggressive approach.

"I finally hit some good shots, was a little bit more aggressive and penetrating than I had been in the first set and a half," Davenport said. "It's my first tournament on clay [this year]. I was getting killed and was able to come back and make a good run of it."

Leading 5-4, Davenport would run into Serena and her champion's edge. Serena held and then broke with a nasty forehand return-of-serve winner. In the final game, Serena unleashed three aces and a service winner to close out the match.

"My serve definitely got better as the match went on. I was able to place it better," Williams said.
Davenport was asked if any player has been as dominant as Serena. "The other most dominant player I ever played was Steffi [Graf]. You always felt like you at least got a little bit of a reprieve when you hit it to the backhand because you at least got a slice. Serena … you get winners blasting off both sides and a phenomenal serve."

Serena had an explanation for her slippage in the second set. "I went back to my old ways … hitting balls in the net, not moving up, hitting out."

Most tour players are hoping for the good, ol' days when Serena's wasn't in tip top shape, didn't have a domonating first serve nor airtight backhand and wasn't a deep-thinking strategist. Unfortunately, there's unlikely to be any slippage in the near furture.

Harkleroad's road stopped short by Henin-Hardenne
American Ashley Harkleroad got a lesson in tennis reality as No. 4 Justine Henin-Hardenne easily handled her, 6-2, 6-1, in the other semifinal.

The partisan Southern crowd was backing the Georgia native but couldn't help her with the accurate groundstrokes, slices and pressing serves of the Belgian. Even though Henin-Hardenne got in only 52% of her first serves, she converted six of eight break points.

Harkleroad made a huge impact with her first run to the weekend of a Tier I tournament. Henin-Hardenne said, "I think that she has a lot of potential, for sure."

In today's match, Harkleroad's impressive first-serve percentage of 79 percent hid the fact that most of her first serves were below 90 miles an hour.

USTA High Performance coach Jay Berger – who works with her – said that Harkleroad has played many more matches this week than she has in the past.

"That arm has hit a lot of serves this week," he explained. Harkleroad and Mashona Washington advance to the doubles semis, but lost to the top-seeded team of Virginia Ruano Pascual/Paola Suarez, 6-3, 6-2.