Lindsay Davenport emerged triumphant from a testing baseline battle with Australia's Alicia Molik to move into the third round at Wimbledon. The third seed, who announced that she would retire in three years time at the relatively tender age of 28, came through 6-4 6-2 against a player ranked 70th in the world.
The 1999 champion took the first set in 34 minutes on her serve after Molik had saved three set points in the ninth game, and the second was significantly easier as she imposed her powerful back court play on the Australian. The third seed will meet either Patty Schnyder from Switzerland or German Jana Kandarr in the third round.
Meanwhile, defending champion Venus Williams faced little resistance as she breezed past Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova 6-3 6-2. The second seed won the match in 1hr 20min during a rain interrupted session, her power proving too much for her 18-year-old opponent. Williams took the first set in 33 minutes and the second in 47 minutes, but the Slovakian never looked like testing the US Open and Olympic champion.
Elsewhere, Jelena Dokic beat American Jennifer Hopkins 6-2 6-4 to progress, the Yugoslav never looking back after breaking serve in the first game. The 18-year-old, a semi-finalist last year, then delighted the court two crowd when she broke again in the fifth and made no mistake on her own to take the set.
The second looked a formality when Dokic raced to a 5-2 lead, but the American fought back to 5-4 before Dokic's superior power clinched the victory in just 44 minutes. The fourteenth seed will face either Nathalie Dechy of France or Austrian Barbara Schett in the last 32.
Belgium's Kim Clijsters swept aside Canadian Maureen Drake 6-3 6-1 to advance, while there were also two set wins for Amelie Mauresmo, Amanda Coetzer, Elena Likhovtseva, Meghann Shaughnessy, Nadia Petrovaand Silvia Farina Elia. Iroda Tulyaganova needed three sets to beat Adriana Serra-Zanetti.
Play was interrupted by rain for the first time this year earlier in the day.
Filed by Shane Murray
