No quarter for Kim

Top seed Lindsay Davenport, on Monday, outgunned Kim Clijsters, winning a ferocious centre court battle 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 to reach the quarter-f...

Top seed Lindsay Davenport, on Monday, outgunned Kim Clijsters, winning a ferocious centre court battle 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals. Desperate to claim a second Wimbledon title before she retires, the 29-year-old American needed to be at her powerful best to stop the Belgian 15th seed in one hour 50 minutes.

Earlier this month at the same stage of the French Open, Clijsters, who has enjoyed a good record against Davenport in recent years, contrived to lose after leading 6-3, 3-1. This time Davenport, the 1999 champion, was in far more ruthless mood and was always in a control of a high-quality match that would have graced the final.

Pounding down first serves and dissecting the lines with her stinging groundstrokes, Davenport raced through the opening set in 26 minutes with three breaks of serve. The scurrying Clijsters, who appears back to her best after recovering from a career-threatening wrist injury, hung on grimly in the second set, saving a match point at 4-5 when Davenport sent a backhand long.

Serving at 3-2 down in the tiebreak, Clijsters covered every blade of grass during one lung-busting point as Davenport pinned her in the corners before rattling off a whistling backhand winner to change over at 3-3. Showing the first sign of pressure, Davenport got lucky with a netcord at 3-4, but an inspired Clijsters forced more errors from her opponent to drag the match into a decider.

Having worked so hard to stay alive, however, Clijsters paid the price for a lapse in concentration at 1-1 in the third, gifting Davenport a break with two wild errors. Belting forehand winners with effortless power, Davenport broke again to lead 5-2. Clijsters clawed one game back but a double fault at 3-5 handed Davenport victory and a quarter-final meeting with Svetlana Kuznetsova. Reuters

Sania the odd one out

8226; Mahesh Bhupathi teaming up with Mary Pierce France registered an upset win over defending champions Wayne and Cara Black in mixed doubles. The Indo-French pair, playing their only second match, showed no sign of pressure against the Zimbabwean No 2 seeds to win 6-3, 6-4.

8226; Fifth seeded Leander Paes and Nenad Zimonjic Serbia in their first-ever meeting with Americans Rick Leach/Travis Parrott 8212; a scratch combination as Leach normally pairs up with Brian McPhie 8212; won 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 3 to advance in the men8217;s doubles event.

Story continues below this ad

8226; Seventeen-year-old Delhi-lad Vivek Shokeen, the second of the three Indian juniors in fray, recorded his maiden Grand Slam win as he rallied to overcome Robin Roshardt Switzerland 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 in Round One of the boy8217;s singles.

8226; Sania Mirza8217;s dream run at the All-England Club courts ended. In the mixed doubles event Sania and partner Simon Aspelin Sweden were no match to No 7 Leos Friedl Czech Republic/Janette Husarova Slovakia and bowed 2-6, 4-6.

8212; Express News Service

The grass gaze

	nbsp;	Venus improves family fortunes Venus avenged her sister8217;s third round exit at the hands of Jill Craybas by blasting the 30-year-old 6-0, 6-2 in a little over an hour, to book a place in the quarters for the seventh time. Interestingly, the elder sibling won the baseline duel on court no 2, the same court where Serena was made to shed tears on Saturday. Teen killer Argentine David Nalbandian who knocked out Andrew Murray, the 18-year-old Scot, in the third round, today ended another teenager8217;s campaign. This time, 19-year-old Frenchman Richard Gasquet going down to him. The rush job Russia is providing Wimbledon with half its women quarter-finalists after a record four players, led by champion Maria Sharapova, won. The other three: Myskina, Petrova and Kuznetsova. Setting the standard: Maria Sharapova has reached the last eight or better in all nine of the events she has played to date this year, winning at Tokyo, Doha and Edgbaston. The defending champion, yet to drop a set at the Big W, stormed into the quarter-finals by dismissing Nathalie Dechy 6-4, 6-2. Escape to victory Eighth seed Nadia Petrova survived two match points in the second set tie-break en route to her victory over Czech Kyeta Peschke 6-7 5-7, 7-6 9-7, 6-3. TRIVIA: Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum, located within Centre Court, is home to the world8217;s greatest collections of tennis memorabilia, with the oldest exhibit dating back to 1555. The latest addition to the collection is Nadal8217;s famous 8216;pirate8217; style trousers which were put on display on Saturday. 8212; Anupama Bagri	nbsp;