Davenport wins

Newport Beach’s Lindsay Davenport overwhelmed three-time defending

Australian Open women’s singles champion Martina Hingis for 50 minutes,

then experienced a 10-minute lapse before watching the Swiss Miss

self-destruct on her final serve as she claimed a 6-1, 7-5 victory in

Melbourne this morning.

The 23-year-old Davenport collected a paycheck of $460,600 for her

third Grand Slam tennis championship, and like the others, it was in

sweeping style.

Except for a few moments when she led a 5-1 lead slip away to 5-5 in

the second set, Davenport displayed an awesome array of winners.

In the first set she put Hingis away in 19 minutes.

“I kept watching the clock,” said a gracious Hingis in the aftermath.

“At least I had that, 1:05, ovewr an hour. But I’ll be back next year.”

Davenport lauded the vanquished and thanked everyone from the ball

boys at Rod Laver Arena to her coach, Robert Van’t Hof, who “made all my

dreams come true.”

For Hingis, the three-time champion and the world’s No. 1-ranked

player on the pro circuit, it was truly a nightmare as the 6-foot-3

Davenport simply took her apart.

It was 5-1 in the second set before the onslaught subsided, partly due

to some strong play by Hingis, and Davenport was perhaps starting to give

way to a pulled ham string in her left leg.

In terms of statistics, the most obvious advantage for Davenport was

in “winners,” which she led by a 26-11 count.