Davenport takes Bank of the West title
Top seed outlasts Venus Williams in three sets to claim $79,000
Posted: Sunday August 02, 1998 08:24 PM
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Williams battled a nagging injury and 90-degree heat only to lose to Lindsay Davenport in three sets AP |
STANFORD, California (AP) -- Lindsay Davenport outlasted an injured
and erratic Venus Williams in three sets to win Sunday's sweltering
final of the Bank of the West tournament.
Playing in temperatures of more than 90 degrees that forced a
10-minute break before the third set, the top-seeded Davenport won
6-4, 5-7, 6-4 to capture the $79,000 first prize.
The third-seeded Williams, who served 12 aces in her semifinal
victory Saturday night over Monica Seles, had 14 aces against
Davenport -- but also had eight double faults.
Williams took two injury timeouts during the second set, and
spent the last half of the match with her left leg and knee wrapped
in bandages.
Davenport got a break in the ninth game of the final set to go
up 5-4 and then needed four match points to close out the victory.
On the second match point, Williams hit a deep return that
Davenport thought was out.
Davenport let out a little scream and didn't try to return the
ball, then looked in shock as the linesman called the shot good.
"I thought it went out, but it probably went in because it did
skid," she said. "It's tough on a big point. Sometimes you just
want the ball to go out."
Williams had gotten an early break in the third set and taken a
3-0 lead, but Davenport broke back in the fifth game and then got
the decisive break four games later.
Davenport kept Williams on the run in the first set, hitting
sharply angled shots to move the teenager around the court.
Davenport got the only break of the set in the seventh game.
Davenport got another break to go up 2-1 in the second set, and
Williams immediately took a five-minute medical timeout and had her
left leg bandaged. The injury appeared to leave Williams
off-balance on some returns.
The trainer also attended to Williams two games later, and came
out again two games after that to tape Williams' left knee and
extend the wrap around her leg.
Williams then rallied, breaking Davenport's serve to even the
set at 4-all and breaking serve again in the final game of the set.
The chair umpire then called a 10-minute timeout for the players
"due to the extreme weather conditions."
The women's tour has a heat-stress index rule that allows for
such a break if the temperature on court is at least 90 degrees at
the start of the match.
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