CARLSBAD, California, Aug 7 (AFP): Lindsay Davenport's number one ranking is on the line this weekend, and Martina Hingis could take it away with a victory in the final of the 520,000-dollar WTATIG Classic here.
Top-seeded American Davenport outlasted German qualifier Anke Huber 7-5. 7-5 here Friday to set up a semifinal date with Venus Williams.
The all-American matchup here Saturday will be a repeat of last Sunday's Stanford final won by Davenport, who is trying to defend three California crowns as a prelude to defense of her US Open title.
Williams reached the semifinals with a 7-5. 6-1 victory over Sandrine Testud of France, while seventh seeded South African Amanda Coetzer beat Amy Frazier by the same score to set up a clash with second seed Hingis.
If Davenport loses in the semifinals and Hingis wins, or if Hingis beats Davenport in Sunday's final. Davenport surrenders the number one ranking to the Swiss teen.
But that is not something that concerns Davenport. In fact, she didn't realize her precarious position until it was pointed out to her.
"I really don’t look at those things." Davenport said. "Eventually I'm going to lose it because I think starting in Stanford I got to the finals of about 11 tournaments in a row (last year), and I don't think Martina had the greatest summer and I'm sure she will pick up some points.
"I'm going to lose it somewhere along the line, but to get to number one and stay there a number of weeks has been a huge honour. All I'm trying to do now is keep up my good play and try and repeat at the Open."
Davenport failed to take control against her feisty opponent. who ran down every ball and rallied strongly from the baseline. In fact. Huber had two break point opportunities to take a 5-3 lead in the second set, but she made errors to let Davenport off the hook.
Fourth seeded Williams staged a dramatic comeback against Testud. trailing 5-1 in the first set before finding her groove and claiming the next nine games. Williams sneaked the first set and then swept 12 of the first 14 points of the second set to build an intimidating 3-0 lead.
Although she was happy to go to the net to win many of her points. Williams has no plans to become a full-time serve and volleyer.
"I'm not sure if I want to be a serve and volleyer. probably because I'm lazy and don’t like to run to the net like that after every serve. It seems like a lot of work. It's a good idea sometimes though," she said.
Coetzer reached her second semifinal in two weeks when she banished Frazier 7-5. 6-1. In a match played mostly from the baseline and consisting Of long rallies -- one of which stretched to 28 hits - Coetzer struggled to get the upper hand in the first set but then ran away with the second.
"It was difficult in the beginning. a little bit blustery and one side was really difficult to win games, but I settled in pretty well and got my rhythm." Coetzer said.