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Posted at 6:48 a.m., Friday, September 14, 2007

Tennis: Davenport advances to Bali Open semifinals

Associated Press

NUSA DUA, Indonesia — Lindsay Davenport continued her comeback today, making it to the semifinals of the Bali Open by defeating top-seeded Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.

"I would never expect to have played anything near how this week has gone, and it's fun to be out there," said Davenport, who is returning to singles play for the first time since having a child in June.

Davenport withdrew from her doubles semifinal because of a left forearm strain. She will face Sara Errani, who upset Aiko Nakamura 6-1, 6-2.

Davenport was helped by Jankovic losing her composure in arguments with the umpire.

Jankovic smashed her racket to the ground at 2-4 in the final set after the umpire made several calls against her. She presented the cracked racket to a spectator and went through the motions of playing, surrendering the next five points and the match.

Emphasizing her disgust, Jankovic gave Davenport an ace after a fault had been called, giving the American match point.

"It was just a nightmare. He was just awful," said Jankovic, ranked No. 3. "Especially with Lindsay, the way she serves, every opportunity that you get you have to take it, but the umpire was just doing the opposite. When the ball was in he would call it out."

Davenport was able to maintain her concentration.

"Part of pro tennis is dealing with line calls and crowds ... so for me all I wanted to do was worry about myself," Davenport said. "If you see an opponent kind of self-destructing, you want to focus on playing high-percentage shots and that's kind of what I was trying to do."

In other matches, second-seeded Daniela Hantuchova routed qualifier Ayumi Morita 6-2, 6-1 to set up a semifinal match with Sorana Cirstea, who eliminated Edina Gallovits 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3).