AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. -- Lindsay Davenport left Amelia Island
with a new puppy, another Bausch & Lomb title and renewed
confidence in her clay-court game.
The last one might be the most important, especially with the
French Open a little more than a month away.
Davenport's powerful serve helped her offset 36 unforced errors
and beat Silvia Farina Elia 7-5, 7-5 Sunday to win the Bausch &
Lomb Championships for the second consecutive year and the third
time overall.
"This is a huge win for me," Davenport said. "Whenever I can
win on clay and in a really tough tournament, it gives me a lot of
excitement."
Davenport joined Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf
and Gabriela Sabatini as the event's only three-time winners.
Now she would like to join Navratilova, Evert and Graf as French
Open champions. Davenport hasn't reached the quarterfinals at
Roland Garros since 1999. The French also is the only Grand Slam
that eludes the 28-year-old Californian, who won the U.S. Open in
1998, Wimbledon in 1999 and the Australian Open in 2000.
The cushy, green clay at the Amelia Island Plantation has been
much more kind. Davenport won the event in 1997 and then again last
year.
"For me, I'm playing my best when I'm playing hard-court tennis
on clay," Davenport said. "I don't want to just get balls in and
build points. The shorter the point, the better."
Davenport trailed 5-4 in the second set, but broke Farina Elia
twice to capture her 47th career singles title. She took advantage
of four unforced errors by the 32-year-old Italian to even the set
at 5, then held serve to move ahead 6-5.
Davenport missed her first chance to clinch the match when
Farina Elia reached a crosscourt drop shot and returned it to an
open court. But Davenport bounced back two points later with a
forehand winner that landed just inside the end line.
"I did all I could today," Farina Elia said. "Lindsay came up
with unbelievable points at big times in the game."
Davenport finished with seven aces and 48 winners, but also had
four double faults and had her serve broken five times.
Still, she won a crystal bowl and $93,000 to go along with her
title at the tour's first clay-court event of the year. She also
became the first player this season to accumulate more than $1
million in prize money.
In addition to the rewards, Davenport also picked up a new pet
this week when she adopted a Rottweiler-Chow mix from the local
humane society.
"I don't know what I'm getting myself into," said Davenport,
who already has two Rottweilers at home.
Davenport, her mother and the new puppy traveled to Charleston,
S.C., on Sunday night for another clay-court event, next week's
Family Circle. After that, Davenport will play in the Fed Cup, then
take time off before heading to Paris.
Although she admittedly prefers hard-court tennis, Davenports
insists her success has more to do with her schedule than the
surface.
She believes that spending too much time overseas before the
French has made her homesick and eager to return to the United
States.
She plans to change that this year and hopes her success at
Amelia Island will finally carry over to the French Open. She
followed both previous victories at the Bausch & Lomb with losses
in the round of 16 at the French.
"People have their opinions of what they think is best for
me," she said. "But I know myself pretty well and I know the best
shot I have at the French is starting off in Paris and just going
from there. Being in Europe for three of four weeks prior is not
going to make for a happy Lindsay. I don't play well when I'm not
happy."