Davenport wary of Jackson threat

Wimbledon number one seed Lindsay Davenport will be hoping she does not become the latest victim of the “graveyard of champions” this afternoon.

The 1999 winner has been in superb form since her semi-final defeat by Maria Sharapova at the All England Club last year, returning to the top of the world rankings following a string of consistent displays on the WTA Tour and at the grand slams.

Davenport, 29, will face her fellow American Jamea Jackson on Court Two later this afternoon, and is taking nothing for granted.

“She is a good, young player,” reflected the top seed. “Anyone who fought their way through qualifying and the first round here must be playing well.

“For me, I am serving well, going after shots and being aggressive, that is the most important thing.”

Also on Court Two, second match up, will be number three seed Amelie Mauresmo.

The Frenchwoman is another tipped to progress to the latter stages this year and will face Maria Sanchez Lorenzo of Spain.

On her own chances, though, Mauresmo commented: “We will have to see.

“With all these big tournaments, it is match after match, and that’s what I am trying to do.”

Belgian Kim Clijsters, a semi-finalist two years ago, will be the first match to be played on Court One, against American Marissa Irwin.

Former French Open champion Anastasia Myskina, the ninth seed from Russia, will play Aiko Nakamura of Japan on Court 13.

The major shock of yesterday’s action was the first-round exit of 2005 Roland Garros winner Justin Henin-Hardenne.

The seventh-seeded Belgian, strongly fancied to win the Wimbledon title, crashed out in three sets to Eleni Daniilidou of Greece.

Henin-Hardenne, who committed 48 unforced errors and eight double-faults, admitted: “It is very hard to win when you play like this.

“I had a hamstring injury which got worse and it was very difficult to get the rhythm I needed – it was a lot of things that made things difficult for me. That’s life, that’s tennis, but I’m a better player than I was four years ago. Now I’ve got to rest some more.”

There were no such problems for the number two seed and defending champion Maria Sharapova, though, as she beat Spaniard Nuria Llagostera Vives 6-2 6-2 in just under an hour.

“In first round matches you never know what to expect,” said the Russian, whose mobile phone rang during the post-match press conference to prove just that.

“We played three weeks ago on clay, but the pace of the court here is a lot different and I think she struggled with that a bit.

“I think I can get a lot better form here. I did enough to win and am pretty satisfied.”

Eighth seed Nadia Petrova, of Russia, came from behind to beat Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual 4-6 6-3 6-2, but American Lisa Raymond is out after losing 7-5 6-3 to Russia’s Tatiana Panova.

Venus and Serena Williams, meanwhile, both survived their trips to Court Two yesterday.

More used to taking centre stage at the All England Club, last year’s runner-up Serena – winner here in 2003 and 2004 – came from behind to beat Angela Haynes after losing an epic first-set tie-break 14-12.

Venus, the 2000 and 2001 champion, has been seeded only at 14 this year following what has been an indifferent couple of seasons, with a quarter-final appearance at the 2004 French Open her best Grand Slam performance.

And, despite a straight-forward 6-2 6-4 triumph over Eva Birnerova, the 25-year-old American still looked far from the player who had dominated the All England Club at the start of the century.

But Venus Williams maintained: “My career goal is still to win grand slams and every tournament that I enter.”

Serena Williams and Haynes had been training partners when they were younger, and the two-time Wimbledon champion was full of praise for her compatriot.

“I think she played unbelievable,” declared Williams. “She was serving really well and was focussed.

“I expected a tough match because she wanted to win the first big match of her career and had nothing to lose – I had to be really focussed too.

“There was a point where I lost focus a bit in the first set, and got a bit off track, but I was feeling my way through and was able to come back.”

Elsewhere, the 11th-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva had to come from behind to secure her place in round two with a 2-6 6-4 6-0 victory over Marlene Weingartner of Germany.

It was a similar story for young Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova, the 20th seed, who beat Evgenia Linetskaya, of Russia, 3-6 6-2 6-2.