Dokic, Martinez, Tu advance to Round 2

Davenport returns to tour SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Lindsay Davenport is realistic. After nine months away from the tour, she probably isn't going to shake the Williams sisters' reign atop the tennis rankings in the near future. And that's really not what she's looking to do, anyway. "My challenge isn't to get to No. 1," she said. "I mean, my challenge is to get back into the top of my game, whatever the ranking is." Davenport takes her first formal step in this week's Bank of the West Classic, her first tour event since having surgery on her right knee in January. FULL STORY

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) -- Jelena Dokic used a powerful serve that reached 100 mph to pound her way past Amy Frazier 6-3, 7-5 Monday night in the first round of the $565,000 Bank of the West Classic.

Dokic, seeded fifth in her first appearance in the tournament, breezed through the first set but fell behind 5-2 in the second. She rallied to beat Frazier, making her 13th consecutive appearance in the event.

"She played well to get to 5-2 and I got a little defensive and made some errors," Dokic said. "I started playing good and got a little lucky."

Former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez also won her first-round match, beating former Stanford star Laura Granville 6-3, 6-3.

"I started off a little shaky, but after I relaxed a little bit and my game was working," Martinez said. "This was the first time in a long time I felt the ball was going where I wanted it to go."

Martinez, ranked No. 74 in the world, and Dokic, No. 6, will meet in the second round.

"There's a lot of tennis to be played between now and the end of the season," Dokic said. "I'm just going to try and stay positive."

In another first-round match, Meilen Tu defeated fellow American Alexandra Stevenson 7-6 (5), 6-4.

Tu will play defending champion Kim Clijsters -- seeded fourth -- in the second round Tuesday night.

"I have nothing to lose, and anything can happen," Tu said. "I'm pretty sure she'll hit the ball harder than Alexandra."

It was the first ever meeting between the 31st-ranked Stevenson and the 52nd-ranked Tu.

"I was trying to feel her out a little bit," Tu said. "She hits the ball pretty hard and I just wanted to return it and get her on the run as soon as possible."

Stevenson has yet to win a WTA tournament, though she reached the finals of this year's Memphis Open before losing to Lisa Raymond. She is 25-15 this season.

"I was trying to make her work a little bit," Stevenson said. "But she kept it under control."

 

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