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Associated Press 19y

Agassi dazzling in win; Federer beats Ljubicic

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Lindsay Davenport got off to a
sluggish start, turned it up a notch in a tiebreaker, then went on
to post another victory over Nathlie Dechy.

Top-ranked Davenport defeated Dechy 7-6 (2), 6-0 Thursday to
reach the semifinals of the Pacific Life Open.

Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova also advanced, avenging an
earlier loss to Mary Pierce with a 6-4, 6-3 victory. Pierce beat
her in three sets in the third round of last year's U.S. Open,
their only other match.

Sharapova, a 17-year-old Russian, improved her match record this
year to 17-1, with the only defeat a taut, three-set loss to
eventual champion Serena Williams in the Australian Open
semifinals.

Giullermo Canas advanced to the men's semifinals with a 7-6 (1),
7-5 victory over Tim Henman, who played for the title in two of the
last three years.

Davenport's victory was her third over the French player in the
past year -- including the 2004 Indian Wells semifinals -- and
seventh in as many career meetings.

Davenport has lost just two sets -- in the 1997 and 2005
Australian Open -- in their matches.

She didn't seem to get warmed up this time until the tiebreaker,
when she shot out to a 6-1 lead, hit a forehand long, then won it
when Dechy slapped a forehand return into the net.

After making 23 unforced errors and double-faulting four times
in the opening set, Davenport took control of her game and the
match in the second.

Davenport began the set by breaking Dechy's serve, then had only
four unforced errors and no double-faults as she took just 22
minutes -- compared to 64 in the first set -- to finish off Dechy.

"I let her back (in the first set) so many times," Davenport
said. "Both games up 40-love, was serving, got broken both of
those.

"Once I held to get to 6-all, I never really looked back from
that point."

Dechy obviously was disappointed, especially with the second
set.

"The first set was a pretty good level of tennis, then I
dropped mine in the second set and she raised hers," said Dechy,
ranked No. 14.

"She started playing really well when she was down 6-5."

Davenport won the Indian Wells title in 1997 and 2000, and made
the finals three other times. She lost to Martina Hingis in 1998,
to Kim Clijsters in 2003 and to Justine Henin-Hardenne last year.

"I feel very comfortable playing here," said Davenport, who
grew up along the coast near Los Angeles and still lives there.
"I've always loved my time out here and won a lot of matches
throughout my career in Indian Wells.

"I like it that I have my family around, friends come out. My
mom's been here the whole time with me, and my husband's gone back
and forth."

Davenport is married to Jon Leach, an investment banker who
played college tennis at USC.

Canas, an Argentine who finished No. 11 last year and won three
tour titles, broke Henman's serve in the 12th game to take the
match.

Henman made two of his staggering total of 51 unforced errors on
the final two points, first hitting a volley wide, then sending a
forehand long.

As the ball landed out by several feet, Canas raised both arms
in triumph.

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