Davenport advances at Family Circle Cup
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-14 10:29

Top-ranked Lindsay Davenport needed just 55 minutes to advance to the third round of the Family Circle Cup, beating Canadian Marie-Eve Pelletier 6-2, 6-2 on Wednesday.

Davenport, who won the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Fla., on Sunday, is trying to win the Family Circle Cup for the first time. Her best finish in the clay-court tournament came two years ago when she lost to Serena Williams in the semifinals.

Lindsay Davenport returns the ball to Canada's Marie-Eve Pelletier Wednesday, April 13, 2005 during play at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, S.C.. Davenport won in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. [AP]

In other matches, French Open champion Anastasia Myskina, seeded third, lost to unseeded 15-year-old Nicole Vaidisova 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. Vaidisova is ranked 49th.

"I guess it's not my year right now," Myskina said after the match in which brisk winds gusted through the stadium and thunderstorms rumbled nearby. "The wind changed the game a lot and, you know, there really was a big wind today but, you know, both of us were on the court."

Venus Williams, the defending champion and the No. 4 seed, was scheduled to play Denisa Chladkova of Czech Republic, who is ranked No. 68 in the world, Wednesday night.

"After coming off a long week like last week, it was nice just to have a quicker match," said Davenport, who had a first-round bye.

Davenport said she is more relaxed on clay than in years past.

"I feel like on a hard court or a grass court, you know, I should or can beat any player in the world," she said. "I feel like on a clay court it's a little bit more of an equalizer for my opponents and I'm aware of that. I do my best. I try to play my style of game and see how it goes."

Unseeded Justine Henin-Hardenne, a former champion and former world No. 1, beat Shuai Peng of China, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

Henin-Hardenne said playing three-set matches recently has helped her recovery from a knee injury.

"I need to play a lot of matches and I need to be on the court," she said. "Physically, it's better. But when you have to keep fighting and like in this kind of battle it's good that mentally I've been strong in the third set."

Mary Pierce of France, the tournament's No. 15 seed, was upset by Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain, 6-4, 7-6 (3). Unseeded Viktoriya Kutuzova beat 16th-seeded Fabiola Zuluaga 6-3, 6-1.

All the other seeded players in action advanced, including No. 8 Patty Schnyder, who defeated Marta Marrero, 6-2, 7-5 and Tatiana Golovin, the No. 13 seed, who defeated Lisa Raymond 6-4, 6-3.

Shinobu Asagoe, seeded 14th, advanced when Meghann Shaughnessy had to withdraw before the match because of a lower back injury.

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