Davenport captures 55th career title

MEMPHIS (Tennessee), March 2: Former world number one Lindsay Davenport claimed her 55th career title by cruising to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over teenager Olga Govortsova of Belarus in the Memphis Championship on Saturday.The 31-year-old fourth seed needed just 60 minutes to beat the fifth-seeded Govortsova in their first career meeting.Davenport served eight aces in overpowering the 19-year-old, winning 89 per cent of her first-serve points.Govortsova double faulted five times and served just two aces.In the men’s draw, unseeded Belgian Steve Darcis and eighth seed Swede Robin Soederling advanced to Sunday’s final with semi-final victories.Darcis out-lasted veteran Swede Jonas Bjorkman 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, and Soderling served his way to a 7-6, 6-3 upset of fourth seed Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.The 23-year-old Darcis will be seeking his second career title. The first came in Amersfoort, the Netherlands last July.Bjorkman, 35, recorded the only service break of the opening set of his match with Darcis but failed to break the Belgian in the second and third.Soderling blasted 12 aces and did not lose serve to defeat Stepanek for the third time in four career matches.The Swede hit nine of his 12 aces in the opening set, including three in the tie-break where he grabbed a 5-0 lead.In the second set, Stepanek was broken in the fifth game, double-faulting twice, and lost serve in the ninth to give Soderling the chance on Sunday to win his third career title.