Tue, 30 Jul 1996

Davenport ends Huber's hopes

STONE MOUNTAIN, Georgia (Agencies): Lindsay Davenport caused a minor upset when she knocked out fifth seed Anke Huber of Germany in a rain marred third round of the Olympic tennis competition on Sunday.

Davenport, the ninth-seeded American, won 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 to earn a quarterfinal meeting with Croatia's Iva Majoli.

Majoli, ranked fourth in the world, also needed three sets to get by Slovakian 16th seed Karina Habsudova 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Their match was delayed for several hours midway through by persistent drizzle.

"The crowd is doing an unbelievable job. They are really trying to be loud and vocal for us and it makes all the difference," Davenport said.

Losing Wimbledon finalist MaliVai Washington, the men's fourth seed, struggled early against Denmark's Kenneth Carlsen, missing four set points in the first set before taking command to win 6- 7, 6-0, 6-2.

Washington is now the only seed left in his half of the draw, but he doesn't believe it is a sure ticket to the Olympic gold medal.

"I don't think my chances for a medal are any better than they were before I played my first round. I just take a match at a time."

Conchita Martinez, the women's number two seed, and her opponent Natasha Zvereva of Belarus, found themselves trying to resume their rain-delayed match on stadium court amid boos and howls or protest.

The crowd erupted in anger when it was announced a doubles match featuring American Andre Agassi was to be moved to another court, a decision that was later reversed when a near riot erupted in the grounds.

But the move did not come before police were called to the tennis venue to keep out disgruntled fans trying to reach court No. 1 to see Agassi in action.

Police formed a line across the entrance, but shortly afterwards it was announced to loud cheering that Washington- Agassi would go back to its original site.

Eventually, Martinez and Zvereva began playing amid the noise, Martinez winning 6-2, 7-5.

"I felt humiliated," said Martinez, the 1994 Wimbledon champion. "I don't think we deserved that. They have the right to make their point but it is not our fault they changed the schedule. It was pretty ugly."

Martinez will now play Mary Joe Fernandez, a replacement for her fellow American Chanda Rubin who pulled out through injury. Fernandez found herself in the quarterfinals after crushing Argentina's Ines Gorrochategui 6-0, 6-3.

Indonesia's bid to steal a little thunder here was over after its women's team of Yayuk Basuki and Romana Tedjakusuma crashed out, following their 2-6, 3-6 second-round defeat by second seeds Jana Novotna and Helena Sukova of the Czech Republic.

It took the Czech duo just 52 minutes to secure their quarterfinal place, despite the persistent challenge from the Indonesians.