Top-ranked Lindsay Davenport got off to another
strong start on clay, beating Silvia Farina Elia 7-5, 7-5 Sunday to win
the Bausch & Lomb Championships for a second consecutive year.
Davenport, whose powerful serve offset several errors, joined Martina
Navratilova, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf and Gabriela Sabatini as the event's
only three-time winners.
Davenport trailed 5-4 in the second set, but broke Farina Elia twice to
capture her 47th career singles title. She took advantage of four unforced
errors by the 32-year-old Italian to even the set at 5, then held serve to
move ahead 6-5.
Davenport missed her first chance to clinch the
match when Farina Elia reached a crosscourt drop shot
and returned it to an open court.
But Davenport bounced back two points later with a forehand winner
that landed just inside the end line.
Davenport won a crystal bowl and $93,000 to go along with her title at
the tour's first clay-court event of the year.
She also became the
first player this season to accumulate more than $1 million in prize
money.
The 28-year-old Californian will play two more tournaments - the Family
Circle next week in Charleston, S.C., and the Fed Cup the following week -
then take time off before heading to the French Open in late May.
Davenport, who has typically been better on hard courts than on clay,
hasn't reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros since 1999.
She won the Bausch & Lomb in 1997 and again last year, but neither
clay-court victory helped much at the French. She was eliminated both
years in the round of 16.
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-12 09:10
