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Davenport, Novotna keep winning Two stars set to meet in quarterfinals at Wimbledon
Posted: Monday June 28, 1999 02:50 PM
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) -- Defending champion Jana Novotna reached the quarterfinals Monday with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over rance's Nathalie Dechy. Now it gets tough. Novotna faces Lindsay Davenport in the final eight, and the third-seeded American has won all five of their previous matches -- though this will be their first on grass. Davenport overcame Austria's No. 14 Barbara Schett 7-6 (9-7), 6-1 in their fourth-round match. No. 3 Davenport trailed 3-5 before rain fell and gave her a chance to regroup. When play resumed, she held off six set points before claiming the tiebreaker. "The rain delay helped me immensely," Davenport said. "I was really nervous, and the rain delay came and I was able to relax a bit. I could really think how I wanted to play." "I have a very good record against her, I like playing her, and it will be interesting how it is on the grass." Novotna also looked uncomfortable in the tricky conditions with swirling wind and showers, the wind posing a danger to Novotna's high ball toss. "It was a difficult match," Novotna said. "It was difficult conditions and she's a very smart player. She's playing very aggressive tennis and I wasn't very comfortable on the court today for some reason. I was struggling from the beginning until the end." Novotna knows she has a tough task ahead of her if she wants to reach the semifinals. "Being on grass will obviously play to my advantage, but nevertheless she's a very difficult opponent," Novotna said. "She has lots of weapons and a very powerful serve, and it's going to be very difficult to play against her."
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