Davenport defies the years in win over Ivanovic

Mar 30, 2008, 23:59 GMT

Miami - Mother-of-one and 33rd-ranked Lindsay Davenport rolled back the years nine months after giving birth as she sent second seed Ana Ivanovic out in the third round of the Miami Masters 6-4, 6-2 in a Sunday upset.

'She played like a top-10 player easily today,' said a stunned Ivanovic, one week removed from winning the prestigious title at Indian Wells, California.

Davenport, 31, seemed surprised to have gone through: 'Sometimes you just never know what to expect when you go out for a certain match on a certain day.'

Ivanovic, who followed compatriot and men's Indian Wells winner Novak Djokovic out the door early in Florida, said that Davenport 'won Grand Slams before, and she was the number 1 player, so she has the game. Today she played very well. I'm glad to see her back, and I hope she can do well.'

The gracious response masked the obvious disappointment of Ivanovic, who had hoped to back up her first major title.

'She always had the first hit on her ball. It was kind of disappointing for me,' Ivanovic said. 'I had chances in the beginning and didn't use them. My intensity wasn't up there today. When you play against such a champion, you need to be on the ball for each point.'

Intensity was not a worry for number one Justine Henin, who overcame sweltering mid-day conditions to advance over Italy's Sara Errani 6-2, 6-1.

Henin said that the searing, sub-tropical sun provided a new set of challenges as she plays in her first event in a month.

'Its very hot out there. It's humid and not that easy conditions,' said the world number one. 'But it was good. After my first match, I have good confidence.'

The winner said that a high overhead sun was not as much of a worry as the muggy conditions, which made her breathing difficult.

'It was really good enough to win pretty easily, so I'm happy,' Henin said. 'Maybe a few weeks ago it would have been another story in this kind of match.'

Fourth seed Jelena Jankovic got back onto court less than 24 hours after managing a marathon win the night before, wasting no time in crushing Czech Lucie Safarova 6-2, 6-1.

Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2006 champion, had to mount a huge fightback to escape Viktoria Azarenka, waking up in time for victory after trailing a set and 5-2.

The Russian found her form just in time for a 1-6, 7-5, 6-0 third- round win.

'My only thought was I'm just one break down. But then it's lots of pressure, because I was not playing any well. So this is what I was working to change,' Kuznetsova said.

'I was not awake, and I was not moving that well. I didn't play well, but still I won the match.'

Men's seeds advanced with number nine James Blake beating crafty French veteran Fabrice Santoro 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4.

'I don't really relax until match point is over with, so I was definitely worried,' said Blake. 'He could have picked up his level at any point and played great, put the pressure on me.'

Number 10 Tomas Berdych beat Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-1, 6-3, while 16th seed Paul-Henri Mathieu stopped Spanish veteran Carlos Moya 7-6 (7-1), 7-5.