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Top seed
Lindsay Davenport overcame a stomach upset and a strong
challenge from Switzerland's Patty Schnyder to reach the
final of the Dubai Open on Friday.
The American
came through 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 and will face either second
seed Serena Williams of the United States or
unseeded Serbian Jelena Jankovic in Saturday's final.
Schnyder, who
beat world number one Davenport in their last meeting,
took advantage of a lethargic performance from the world
number one in the first set.
Davenport had
no rhythm and made a succession of errors, eventually
double-faulting to give the Swiss left-hander a 3-1 lead.
Even though
Davenport managed to break as Schnyder served for the set
at 5-3, she dropped her serve again when the number eight
seed won a long rally at the net to take the set.
"In the first
set I felt so wild," said Davenport. "I was trying so hard
and the balls were just flying on me. It was so hard
keeping balls in.
"Finally I
got my shots inside the lines and didn't go for so much
and I was able to play a little bit more percentage
tennis."
Davenport was
the first to break in the second, for 2-1, but played a
poor game at 3-2, double-faulting three times and allowing
Schnyder to level at 3-3.
Schnyder
fought off two break points in the next game before
Davenport called for the trainer and received medicine for
her stomach.
"I was up 2-1
in the second and for the next four games I was feeling
really nauseous, like I was going to get sick," said
Davenport.
"It's hard
when there's people around because you really don't want
that to happen. I was trying to keep the points short for
a few games there."
POSITIVE
TENNIS
The American
THEN began to strike the ball more positively, breaking to
lead 6-5 and then again to begin the deciding set.
Hitting deep
to force errors from Schnyder, Davenport took almost
complete control, breaking again to lead 4-1 and dropping
just one point in the final two games.
"I was never
in too much danger," said Davenport. "At 4-4 I held pretty
easily and then for 7-5.
"I was just
able to eke out the second set, and the third set I just
played a lot better and she started to make a lot more
unforced errors."
Schnyder
admitted she became frustrated at not being able to close
out the match in the second set.
"I had a good
chance there in the second," she said. "I sensed the
moment but my shots were not there.
"I was
really frustrated because it was time to win the match but
I couldn't do it. In the third I felt my serve was
slipping away and her game was better and better, and
that's not nice to feel."
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