By Etienne Stekelenburg
August 10 2003

Second seed Lindsay Davenport ruined any chance for Ai Sugiyama to end up in a final against her double partner Kim Clijsters. Sugiyama could not find a way to return Davenports well placed groundstrokes. It also seemed impossible for the fourth seed Japanese to defend Davenport’s serves. Davenport started off breaking Sugiyama’s first servicegame on love. On 2-1 Sugiyama managed to break back for the equaliser in games. That was the very last thing she could do in the first set. Davenport got Sugiyama all over the court with hammering groundstrokes left and right.

Sugiyama managed to steal the odd point with approaching the net but she was forced back by Davenport’s impeccable linedrives.

The second set showed no changes. Davenport held her grip on the match and Sugiyama could not find a way to stay out of trouble and avoiding Davenport’s winners. Sugiyama managed to hold her own serve only once leading to a 6-1 loss in the second set.

Sugiyama who beat Davenport last February in Scottsdale on her way to the final and victory said that when she won in Scottsdale Davenport was not in the best condition. Today it was a different ball-game, Davenport was playing too good for Sugiyama on the hottest day of the week.

"Even though I was serving good, she was returning really well," Sugiyama said. "My second serve isn't good enough against her. It was very hard for me to hit a good ball against her because it's already deep and sharp."

"I thought I did everything well," Davenport said. "I felt I was in control of most of the points. The last two days have been really great. I've gotten my mind more into the matches."