Davenport through to final after three-set thriller

Serena Williams will face world number one Lindsay Davenport in Saturday's final after the American finally overcame France's Nathalie Dechy in three tough sets.

Davenport looked completely out of sorts, and perhaps struggling with her busy schedule after playing both a singles and doubles match yesterday, as she lost the first set 6-2.

The 28-year-old Californian then twice failed to serve out the second set and had to come back from 4-1 down in the tie-break to keep the match alive.

Davenport had won all of the pair’s previous five matches for the loss of just one set, but was having real trouble finishing off the 19th seed, making her first semi-final appearance in her 37th grand slam.

She broke for a 4-2 lead but was broken straight back after a 10th double fault, and finally scrambled over the line with another break in the 10th game for a 2-6 7-6 6-4 victory.

“It’s been a long two days,” admitted Davenport, who will have played on four straight days by the time of the final. “It was not my greatest day playing tennis but I was able to pull through. Again I think I was a bit lucky but I will take it.”