Davenport wins late-night match; Venus rallies for win

The tournament is the season-ending event for women.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Playing well past her bedtime, Lindsay Davenport fought off Elena Dementieva in a match that featured an 18-deuce game.
Davenport beat the Russian 6-0, 6-1 Wednesday night in her opening match in the season-ending WTA Championships. Earlier, Serena Williams rallied to beat French Open champion Anastasia Myskina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, and U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-4.
The players are assigned to Red and Black four-woman groups and play each other once. The two players with the best record from each group will advance to the semifinals. The singles winner will earn $1 million and a car to donate to charity.
Ended near midnight
Davenport's match ended just before midnight.
"I've been dying the last two nights trying to stay awake until 11 p.m.," said Davenport, who typically goes to sleep at 9 p.m. because her investment banker husband gets up at 5 a.m. for work.
Davenport was serving at 4-1 when she and Dementieva battled through 18 deuces before the American raised her arms in triumph as if the match was over. She held for a 5-1 lead, then broke Dementieva to end the match.
"It seemed like 5-all in the third," Davenport said. "It was one of those games that got more dramatic as it went on, a really crazy game."
Williams rallies back
Backed by a hometown crowd of 8,127 at Staples Center, Williams overcame 61 unforced errors to improve to 4-0 lifetime against Myskina. The Russian had never taken a set from Williams in three previous meetings.
Myskina led 3-0 in the second during a stretch when Williams won just three points in four games, including the last game of the first set.
"I hadn't shook her hand yet so I figured I was still in the match," Williams said. "I was a little disgusted with my game."
Williams has been idle since losing to a qualifier in the second round of an Austrian tournament nearly two weeks ago -- her earliest defeat since 2000. She has won just two titles this year, the fewest since she turned pro in 1995.
"I'm just taking baby steps," she said. "Next year I want to start fresh and show my true colors."
Trailing 3-0, Williams reeled off eight straight games over the second and third sets. She was ahead 2-0 in the third when Myskina won three consecutive games to take a 3-2 lead.
"I was just thinking I won the match. When I was ahead I stepped back and was hoping for her mistakes," Myskina said. "Serena started playing better."
Williams staved off three break points to hold at 3-all. She broke Myskina in the next game and held at 5-3.
Lots of unforced errors
Myskina held to trail 5-4 before Williams needed four match points to close out the victory. Together, the players combined for 102 unforced errors and just 53 winners in the two-hour match.
"It was definitely bizarre," said Williams, who won the tournament in 2001 and lost in the '02 final. "I was trying to get used to her game since I hadn't played her [since 2002]."
Kuznetsova blew most of a 5-1 lead in the second set when there were seven service breaks. Zvonareva won three straight games to trail 5-4.
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