Davenport still in top spot race

Lindsay Davenport kept the pressure on Jennifer Capriati in the race to end the year at number one when she crushed Jelena Dokic 6-4, 6-2 on Thursday to reach the last four of the WTA Championships.

Second seed Davenport, who needed to beat the 18-year-old Yugoslav to keep alive her hopes of knocking Capriati off top spot, sealed her quarter-final victory with an ace after just 58 minutes.

The powerful American will meet Belgian teenager Kim Clijsters, the third seed, who cruised after a tight first set to oust veteran Spaniard Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario 7-5, 6-1.

Davenport has just won three tournaments in a row to move into second place in the WTA rankings 61 points behind Capriati.

The battle remains open but Capriati is in control as she will remain at the top if she reaches the final, even if Davenport wins the year-end event for the world's top 16 players.

"I've always said that to be number one, you have to do well in Grand Slams and I haven't made one (Grand Slam) final this year," said former number one Davenport.

"But if I can have it, I'll take it. I've been there before and I wouldn't mind being there again."

SORE THROAT

Capriati's chances to end her fairytale year in style suffered a blow when she had her quarter-final match postponed because of a sore throat.

A WTA spokeswoman said Capriati had asked for her match against France's Sandrine Testud, which was originally scheduled for Thursday, to be put back until Friday.

"Jennifer has a throat infection but she will definitely play tomorrow (Friday)," the spokeswoman said.

Davenport, who has a perfect 6-0 record against Dokic and has beaten her three times in as many weeks, did not give her a chance on Thursday.

Dokic, the sixth seed, had reached five finals in her previous six tournaments, falling to Davenport in the last two, in Zurich and Linz.

"Having beaten a player the last two weeks gives you a lot of confidence," said Davenport, who has racked up 14 victories since the start of her indoor season.

"I went out there knowing that if I did the things that I do well, I would win."

BEST IN THE WORLD

Davenport, who won the year-end Championships two years ago, recently described herself as the best indoor player in the world.

She looked every bit that way against Dokic, firing 11 aces and returning superbly throughout.

The 25-year-old broke her opponent immediately and again in the third game of the first set, and she was serving for the set at 5-2 when Dokic finally managed a break.

Davenport was still one break up, however, and she wrapped up the set with an ace two games later.

The second set followed a similar pattern, with Davenport breaking Dokic in the third game and again two games later before wrapping up a comfortable win.

Clijsters, who boosted her morale before coming to Munich by winning her third title of the year in Luxembourg on Sunday, might give Davenport a hard time in the semifinals.

The 18-year-old French Open runner-up was made to work for one set by Sanchez-Vicario, who was serving for a tie-break when she was broken in the first set's last game.

The young Belgian then stepped up a gear to move on top, taking just 25 minutes to push out the popular Spaniard, who was a finalist at the year-end Championships in 1993.