Dokic wins at Pan Pacific Open, Davenport advances<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Tokyo<\/p>\n
Yugoslavia's Jelena Dokic, playing her season-opener after
\nskipping the Australian Open, got her year off to a winning start
\nwith a 7-6 (7\/4), 6-4 victory over rising Indonesian star
\nAngelique Widjaja at the Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
The second-seeded Dokic, ranked eighth in the world, started
\nslowly, going down 0-5 in the first set, before storming back to
\nwin the second round match in 80 minutes.<\/p>\n
Third seed Lindsay Davenport of the United States joined Dokic
\nin the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over 1996 Pan
\nPacific champion Iva Majoli of Croatia.<\/p>\n
Dokic will play American Lisa Raymond, a 2-6, 7-6 (9\/7), 6-2
\nwinner over Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria, while Davenport will
\ntake on Thai ace Tamarine Tanasugarn.<\/p>\n
Tamarine survived a 141-minute battle against sixth seed
\nSilvia Farina Elia of Italy, winning 6-7 (4\/7), 7-5, 6-1.<\/p>\n
In other action, Sydney Olympic silver medalist Elena
\nDementieva of Russia, the eighth seed, breezed past French
\nqualifier Stephanie Cohen Aloro 6-2, 6-2 and Lina Krasnoroutskaya
\nbecame the only qualifier to reach the last eight with a marathon
\n6-7 (10\/12), 7-6 (9\/7), 6-2 win over fellow Russian Elena Bovina.<\/p>\n
Krasnoroutskaya will play top seed Monica Seles of the United
\nStates in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
\"It's my first match and everyone else had a few matches, so
\nit's a bit more difficult for me,\" said Dokic, who emigrated to
\nAustralia from Serbia in 1994 but has skipped the Australian Open
\nfor the past two years because of a stormy relationship with the
\nAustralian media and tennis authorities.<\/p>\n
\"And it's a different surface, a little bit harder to get used
\nto,\" she said. \"But I don't mind starting (the season) in this
\ntournament ... I'd like to start in this tournament.\"<\/p>\n
Last year, the 19-year-old Dokic also began her season in the
\n1.3-million-dollar event and crashed out in her first match.<\/p>\n
\"I think 5-love was similar to last year,\" she said. \"It was
\ndifficult to get used to. I haven't played on the court for three
\nor four months, I hadn't played a match, so I think it was pretty
\nmuch the same.<\/p>\n
\"It took me awhile to start, but I think even if I had lost
\nthe first set, I would have been able to come back.\"<\/p>\n
Two-time Pan Pacific winner Davenport, who was unable to
\ndefend her Tokyo indoor title last year because of a knee injury,
\nsaid her knee felt fine after surgery.<\/p>\n
\"It's nice to get the first match out of the way,\" she said.
\n\"My knee is 100 percent. I have not felt one bit of pain since
\nthe days of surgery, so my knee is fantastic.<\/p>\n
\"It's still just trying to get back to the level of tennis I
\nwas playing before the knee surgery.\"<\/p>\n
In Milan, Italy, Morocco's Younes El Aynaoui, who lost an epic
\nfive-hour, five-set Australian Open quarterfinals last week,
\nsurrendered his Milan indoor hopes in tamer fashion here on
\nWednesday when he was knocked out of the 380,000 euro event in
\nthe second round by Italian veteran Andrea Gaudenzi.<\/p>\n
The third-seeded El Aynaoui, who also knocked top seed and
\nworld number one Lleyton Hewitt out of the opening Grand Slam
\nevent of the season in Melbourne before losing that epic last
\neight clash to Andy Roddick, went down in straight sets 7-5, 6-3.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the 1996 Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek had
\nturned back the clock to dispose of Czech Radek Stepanek 3-6, 6-
\n3, 7-6 (15\/13) in the second round.<\/p>\n
Krajicek will meet Jarrko Nieminen in the last eight after the
\nFinnish number eight seed ousted Anthony Dupuis of France 7-6
\n(7\/4), 2-6, 6-4.<\/p>\n
Title holder, and local favorite Davide Sanguinetti, sailed
\nthrough to the next round after beating fellow Italian Giorgio
\nGalimberti 6-2, 6-4 to set up a quarterfinals clash against
\nBelarus' Max Mirnyi.<\/p>\n
Martin Verkerk of Holland also progressed to the quarterfinals
\nafter securing a 6-3, 6-4 win over Swedish veteran Thomas
\nEnqvist.<\/p>",
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