Clijsters, Davenport meet in Final of Indian Wells

By Chris Davies
March 15 2003

Kim Clijsters and Lindsay Davenport will battle it out for the Pacific Life Open title on Sunday after both winning their semifinal on Friday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden

The top-seeded Clijsters dispatched 26th seed Conchita Martinez of Spain, 6-3, 6-2 in the afternoon match. The fourth-seeded Davenport then earned a triumph over second-seeded against Jennifer Capriati.

Davenport took the first set with a pair of breaks, but struggled mightily in the second with 26 unforced errors to Capriati's six.

The decisive set remained on serve until Davenport broke for 3-2. Capriati broke right back and took the next game for a 4-3 edge, but Davenport easily held and followed with a break at love to serve for the match.

After Capriati took a medical timeout to treat a hamstring injury, Davenport served out for her place in the final winning with a backhand volley, then Capriati missed a forehand crosscourt and then crunched a service winner. "That was a really hard fought match with high quality tennis," said Davenport, who ended the match with 50 winners to only 23 from her opponent.

Davenport improved to 8-2 lifetime against Capriati and will try for her third Indian Wells crown. She previously won the title in 1997 and 2000.

"I was getting frustrated at my inability to play at the level I thought I could play at," she said. "It's a big win. I thought I had a tough draw when this tournament started so to get to the final is great."

Clijsters will appear in her fourth final of the year in only her fifth tournament of 2003. She is 1-2 in her previous finals, with a title coming in Sydney and runner-up finishes coming in Antwerp and Scottsdale. The Belgian bested Davenport in the Sydney title match.

The young Belgian was stunned by Japan's Ai Sugiyama in the final at Scottsdale the week before Indian Wells got underway. She lost to Serena in the Australian Open semis and gave way to Venus in the Diamond Games championship match in her native Belgium last month.

"Lindsay is the type of player that if she's on she can play unbelievable," Clijsters said. " She can hit the ball so clean. Her weaker point is her movement. You have to take advantage of that and return well. From the first point of the rally you have to get into an advantageous situation and try to do more with a return."


Results

(1) Kim Clijsters (BEL) bt (26) Conchita Martinez (ESP)
6-3, 6-2

(4) Lindsay Davenport (USA) bt (2) Jennifer Capriati (USA)
6-4, 4-6, 6-4