The Top Two Women Are Too Good

MELBOURNE, Australia —  So, the Australian Open tennis tournament has come down to its marquee moment, big star versus big star. The long anticipated, much-hyped showdown has arrived.

No, no. Not Sampras-Agassi. That will be later tonight (Wednesday midnight in Los Angeles), the men’s “final” before they play the final.

This is Davenport-Hingis, the women’s version of the top of the hill, the best of the best. Each won her way into Saturday’s final (Friday in L.A.), each did so in straight sets and each seemed ready to leave the punching bag and jump rope behind and get it on in the main event.

Lindsay Davenport, the pride of Newport Beach, played first and beat unseeded Jennifer Capriati, 6-2, 7-6 (4). Capriati tried hard and played well and Davenport admitted to tiring near the end of the second set. But the match left the impression that Davenport has reached a level in her game where she can turn it up almost at will, and does.

Davenport had barely left the post-match interview room when Martina Hingis finished off Conchita Martinez, 6-3, 6-2, setting up Saturday’s matchup of No. 1, Switzerland’s Hingis, and No. 2 Davenport.

Interestingly, their one-two dominance of this event, as well as the entire women’s tour, may have been lost a bit in the shadow of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi’s battle at the top of tennis Everest. The women talk a lot about their big four, which adds the Williams’ sisters to the Hingis-Davenport duo, but that may be more wishful thinking for the tour than reality. It remains to be scene how well Serena, who was upset in the round of 16 here, and Venus, who did not play, compete and succeed this year. For that matter, it remains to be seen how much their father, Richard, will let them compete and succeed.

If you take Serena and Venus out of the picture, as they were here, you have Hingis and Davenport, plus an injured Monica Seles, an apparently past-her-prime Mary Pierce, and a collection of Mauresmos and Tauziats and Hubers and Coetzers and the like who, to this day, would have a heck of a time getting a set off Steffi Graf, even if she had to climb out of the stands and play in street shoes.

The men’s game is drooling over its rivalry, and correctly so. So, too, should the women’s.

In fact, it could be that the women will have this great thing going for some time, since Hingis is 19 and Davenport 23.

There is even starting to be some swagger to each, even from the incredibly normal and self-effacing Davenport, who said midway through the Hingis-Martinez semifinal that, if the truth be known, she’d rather play Hingis in the final. She beat Hingis in her 1998 U.S. Open title match, and Graf in her ’99 Wimbledon.

“I like to beat the best when I win the Grand Slams,” she said. “I like to play the best and beat the best.”

After her match, Hingis also exhibited some bring-her-on body language, and said, “Lindsay is the top player out there right now, and even though I’m still at No. 1, she has the great groundies [ground strokes] and has beaten me the last three times, so I’m ready to give it a shot.”

The key phrase in there was: “Even though I’m still at No. 1 . . . “

Hingis has won five Grand Slam events, but three of them have been here, the last three years. She last lost here in singles in the 1996 quarterfinals--that’s 27 matches ago--and has won also won the doubles here the last three years, giving her an Australian match streak of 49 straight without a loss, including her five doubles victories going into a semifinal match here later Thursday.

Interestingly, one of her opponents in that one will be . . . you guessed it . . . Lindsay Davenport.

“It feels so homey here,” Hingis said. “So far [in singles], nobody has taken more than three games against me in one set except Sandrine [Testud] in a tiebreaker.”

Hingis also dismissed the Nos. 3 and 4 players in the world, Venus and Serena Williams, the latter of whom beat her for the U.S. Open title last September, when asked, in her news conference, about the current dominance of she and Davenport.

“We have been the most consistent players in the last three years,” she said, “and maybe the Williamses, but they seem to be injured a lot.”

Interestingly, a player very likely closer to the top two in ability and future than many of the other higher-ranked contenders is Capriati, who competed hard against Davenport, wowed the crowd with her big baseline game and kept breaking Davenport often enough in the second set to make a decent match of it. Indeed, had not Capriati failed to handle a couple of 65-mph kick second serves from Davenport in key situations, including one that got Davenport to match point in the tiebreaker, she might have forced a third set and prevailed against her taller, tiring opponent who was bothered by muscle strains in her abdomen and groin.

“I think it’s a great way to start the year,” said Capriati, who is likely to work her way into the top 10 soon. “I’m pretty happy with my performance here.”

And she, like all the others on the tour, have a clear view of the top of the mountain they must climb. It’s the peak where Davenport and Hingis are standing. At the moment, only Davenport and Hingis.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

WOMEN’S FINAL

LINDSAY DAVENPORT

vs.

MARTINA HINGIS

Friday, 6:30 p.m.

ESPN

INSIDE

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Yevgeny Kafelnikov would have you believe he doesn’t belong on the court with Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, but he is seeded No. 2. Page 7