Davenport downbeat after narrow escape

World number one Lindsay Davenport admits she has low expectations of the French Open fortnight after scraping past Chinese teenager Shuai Peng into the third round.

The 28-year-old American was a set and 5-4 down with a break against her before recovering to level the match on a tie-break.

Davenport had the deciding set all her own way, clinching a 3-6 7-6 (7/4) 6-0 win.

“The last two matches have not been at a high standard for me and I was just not thinking too much,” she admitted.

“I came to Paris with the ‘whatever happens, happens’ attitude, I was just lucky to get by.

“She made a couple of big errors. I finally got a little bit more focused in my game plan and strategy, and was able to turn it around.”

Davenport is still not confident on the clay of Roland Garros, where she has only once reached the semi-finals. Nor is she overly concerned about the threat of losing her status atop the world rankings.

“I’ve been number one for an extraordinary amount of time (since October 2004), I never thought it would be that long,” she added.

“If that was my sole priority I would have been over here playing Berlin and Rome and really working to try and just get more points. But that’s not really what I am about.

“Here I don’t expect to reach the stars. It’s hard for me to move on clay. I need to be moving really well for me to play better tennis.

“I came here thinking ‘I’m going to do the best that I can’. Hopefully it will work out.”

Earlier, fourth seed and last year’s finalist Elena Dementieva was happy to have cleared the second-round hurdle after ousting Croatia’s Sandra Mamic in straight sets, 7-6 (9/7) 6-2.

“I think that I gave her chances to play well today, especially in the first set when I was 4-1 up,” the Russian said.

“I don’t think I played my best but it was important to win that kind of match.

“For me it’s never easy to play the first and second rounds because I need some time to get a grip on my game and adapt to the tournament.”

Meanwhile, Belgian 14th seed Kim Clijsters, who reached the Paris final in 2003, cruised past Slovakian Ludmila Cervanova 6-2 6-1.

She insists the knee injury which caused her to question her participation is now firmly in the past, and Clijsters is looking good for another visit to the final.

“So far everything has been good,” she said. “I’m still wearing the tape around my knee just to protect myself, but I feel good.

“I feel like I can do as much as I have to out there on the court, especially in the first few rounds.

“I did not really get tested yet and that’s okay for me to just get some match rhythm.”

Eleventh seed Venus Williams progressed to the third round by defeating Colombia’s Fabiola Zuluaga 6-3 3-6 6-3 in the morning.

“It was a challenging match,” said Williams.

“I got the best part because she (Zuluaga) played with a lot of variety, sometimes harder and sometimes with more spin, so I got to see everything.

“It was good for my own game.

“I am playing good. I felt really good in the long rallies. My return also felt fine.

“In general I am feeling pretty comfortable on clay.”

French hope Mary Pierce, champion in 2000 and the 21st seed, ousted Croatia’s Jelena Kostanic 6-1 6-0 in less than an hour.