 |
| Lindsay Davenport fell in the finals last year to Kim Clijsters, 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.© Jeff Gross/Getty Images |
STANFORD, California (Ticker) - Second seed Lindsay Davenport made sure her second-round match at the $585,000 Bank of the West Classic on Thursday night went as smoothly as Venus Williams' the night before.
Davenport cruised past unseeded Russian Lioudmila Skavronskaia, 6-1, 6-1, to set up a round-of-eight encounter with fellow American Mashona Washington.
"She's very fast," Davenport said of her next opponent. "She likes to retrieve a lot. Hopefully I'll take advantage of the points and take control."
On Wednesday, Williams, the top seed at the hardcourt event, needed just 51 minutes to rout American Lindsay Lee-Waters by the same score. The top four seeds here - Williams, Davenport, Patty Schnyder of Switzerland and Italian Francesca Schiavone - received first-round byes.
"It's tough when you don't know what to expect," Davenport said of Skavronskaia, whom she had never faced before. "She has a good game, (but) she just made a few more errors and I was in control of the points."
In Thursday's first match, Schiavone outlasted Croatian Jelena Kostanic, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), to advance to the quarterfinals, where she will meet eighth seed Maria Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela. American Amy Frazier, the sixth seed, also advanced to the round of eight, dispatching Marion Bartoli of France, 6-3, 7-6 (7-0). She awaits Schnyder, who routed Australian Nicole Pratt, 6-3, 6-2.
First prize is $93,000.