Davenport makes inspiring return

Lindsay Davenport's qualification for the China Open semifinals just a few months after giving birth to her first child is the most inspirational story to emerge from the tournament.

The former world No 1, who welcomed son Jagger into the world in June, believes her comeback will encourage women to pursue their careers after becoming mothers.

The former world No 1 came out of retirement last week to win her 52nd career title in Bali and backed it up by beating Greek Eleni Daniilidou 7-5 6-3 to reach the semifinals of China Open in Beijing.

"It is an achievable goal for female athletes, many other females in sports have a baby and come back," the 31-year-old said in Beijing yesterday.

Davenport has been in vintage form over the past two weeks, outplaying Serbian world No 3 Jelena Jankovic and Daniela Hantuchova in Bali's tropical heat.

Her unexpected form has seen her shoot up the rankings to No 154 from outside 200 during her retirement.

"It's crazy," she said.

"It's been difficult, but really fun.

"At the very beginning when I left and went to play tennis for a couple of hours I would feel all this guilt, but I learned that it's probably been good for both of us.

"I feel like my life on the road is more fulfilled now I have my son with me. I'm extraordinarily blessed to have a job which requires me to be away from him just three or fours ours per day."

Amelie Mauresmo, who returned to the Pro Tour after a two-month lay-off, said Davenport is "inspiring all players on the Tour".

"She is great example for a lot of women in the world," the Frenchwoman said.

"I think she'll enjoy the life she has now. She is just the second player. I am sure she'll again able to reach her highest level."

Martina Hingis also paid tribute to the super mom.

"I saw her play and was thinking 'you're amazing'," the Swiss said.

"She was a great champion and a great mom, and she's still got the game. That's never happened before in this sport."

Despite the consecutive victories and praise from other players, Davenport conceded she was unlikely to reproduce her peak performance.

"Maybe the pregnancy gave me some magical powers, maybe, but your body is really different physically after giving birth and I'm definitely not back to where I was before.

"I'm definitely not the fastest player out there so I have to rely on my anticipation."

The former triple Grand Slam winner will play at most one more tournament and if her fitness improves, she will hit the Tour on a full schedule from January.

"I'll travel with Jagger all the time," she said.

"I get to spend all the time with him, but I have to be much more organized and on a schedule.

"For me it's just about the challenge of trying to get back to the top, of trying to win tournaments and being a force on the tour again."

Davenport is the second mother to win a title this season on the WTA following Austrian Sybille Bammer in Thailand earlier this year.

"She mixed it up a lot on me today," Davenport said of her opponent yesterday.

"I got off to a slow start but in the end I was able to make fewer errors and force her to make errors that she wasn't making at the beginning.

"I don't know why it's been going so well, it has felt easy but I think that's more to do with the fact that it's been fun and I've enjoyed it."

The gracious American will now face Russian world No 15 Elena Dementieva, who beat Austria's Tamira Paszek 6-2, 6-0.

Playing in her first China Open, the Russian broke Paszek's first service game and enlarged the lead, wrapping up the victory in 51 minutes.

Akiko Morigami won the all-Japanese match against Aiko Nakamura 7-5 6-3 to take her place in the quarter-finals, where she will meet the winner of the last match of the day between second seed Jelena Jankovic, who ousted Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-0,6-0.

(China Daily 09/21/2007 page22)