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Big battle Davenport, Kournikova set for fourth-round clash
Posted: Friday January 21, 2000 01:06 PM
MELBOURNE, Australia (Reuters) -- World No. 2 Lindsay Davenport continued her breezy run at the Australian Open on Thursday, effortlessly pushing aside Russian qualifier Alina Jidkova 6-0, 6-1 in a lopsided centre court match. The Wimbledon champion rarely got out of first gear as she overpowered the nervous Russian from the baseline, forcing her into fundamental mistakes. Jidkova only managed to avoid the embarrassment of a whitewash when she finally held serve late in the second set only to drop the next three in a row anyway and bow out after 45 minutes. Davenport, who has made the fourth round or better in each of her last six appearances at Melbourne Park but never reached the final, said the tournament was just beginning for her. "I'm getting better," she said. "But it's no time to second guess yourself or to falter." Davenport's opponent in the round of 16 is another Russian, teenager Anna Kournikova. Kournikova scraped into the fourth round with a hard-fought 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Czech Kveta Hrdlickova. Davenport beat Kournikova in Sydney last week and said she has a lot of respect for the 18-year-old even though she has never won a singles title in her career. "I watched the match closely," Davenport said. "She looked like she struggled a little but I know she wants to do well, especially in a Grand Slam. "I know she'll be fired up." Kournikova spent most of the day ducking questions over her alleged romantic ties to Australia's Mark Philippoussis but said she too was looking forward to meeting the American. "I like to play against [Davenport]. We've had some good matches in the past," Kournikova said. "But definitely it's going to be a tough match."
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