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Dokic, Davenport advance at Pan Pacific Posted: Thursday January 30, 2003 5:15 AM
TOKYO (AP) -- Second-seeded Jelena Dokic of Yugoslavia shook off a slow start Thursday to defeat Indonesia's Angelique Widjaja in the second round of the US$1.3 million Toray Pan Pacific tennis tournament. Dokic relied on a strong serve and solid groundstrokes to come back from being down 5-0 in the first set at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium to defeat Widjaja 7-6, 6-4. Dokic, who skipped the Australian Open and is playing in her first singles match of 2003, turned the tables when she broke Widjaja's serve in the sixth game of the first set and went on to take the next three games to set up the tiebreaker, which she won 7-4. "It was a bit difficult because this was my first match," said Dokic. "I haven't played in three or four months, but I felt that even if I lost the first set I could have come back." Dokic, currently eighth in the WTA rankings, looked more comfortable in the second set when she broke the 68th-ranked Widjaja in the final game to win the match in 1 hour and 20 minutes. "I just tried not to make many mistakes," said Dokic, who had a bye in thefirst round. "The surface here is a bit different and takes some getting used to." American Lindsay Davenport, who lost in the fourth round of the Australian Open to Justine Henin-Hardenne and is seeded No. 3 in this tournament, cruised to a 6-4, 6-4 win over Iva Majoli of Croatia to advance to the final eight. "It was nice to get the first match out of the way," said Davenport. "It was a pretty routine match. I served well and we had some good volleys" Davenport, who also had a first-round bye, is bidding for her third title at the Toray Pan Pacific. She won here in 1998 and 2001. Davenport had surgery on her knee in January of 2002 and said she is fully recovered. "The knee is 100 percent," said Davenport. "Now it's just a question of getting back to the level I was playing at before the surgery." In other matches Thursday, American Lisa Raymond defeated fifth-seeded Magdalena Maleeva 2-6, 7-6, 6-2; Russian Lina Krasnoroutskaya downed compatriot Elena Bovina 6-7, 7-6, 6-2; Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand edged Italy's Silvia Farina Elia 6-7, 7-5, 6-1; and Elena Dementiva of Russia breezed past France's Stephanie Cohen Aloro 6-2, 6-2. Davenport will face Tanasugarn in the quarterfinals while Dokic will take on Raymond. Top-seeded Monica Seles will meet Krasnoroutskaya. The Toray is Asia's only top-tier tournament, but many big names have been forced to sit out due to injury.
Martina Hingis is recovering from an ankle injury, American Jennifer Capriati is recuperating after eye surgery and Russia's Anna Kournikova pulled out after suffering back spasms at the Australian Open.
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