Dokic emerges from slump to reach last eight
Steve Keating
Jelena Dokic broke out of a late-season slump to brush aside Russian Anastasia Myskina 6-3, 6-4 and reach the quarter-finals of the $3 million WTA Championships on Thursday.
Dokic, who seemed to be shutting down her season early having won just two matches in her last five events, took 62 minutes to dispose of her Russian opponent in front of only a few hundred spectators scattered across the cavernous Staples Center.
Certainly there is no competitor in the elite 16-player field looking forward to the end of the season more than Dokic, who is playing in her 29th event.
"I got some of my energy back," said Dokic, the winner of two tournaments this season. "I said, 'it may be the last match you play, so you might as well try'.
"Mentally I'm really feeling it much more than physically. It's hard to fight out there when you play so many matches and tournaments.
"The last five or six tournaments have been hard because your mind is not on the court so much," said Dokic.
"My year has been fine expect for the last few months. I think that has to do with just being tired."
Accompanied to the year-end extravaganza by her boyfriend, the Brazilian Formula One driver Enrique Bernoldi, the eighth-seeded Yugoslav turned in a solid if uninspired effort, closing out the contest on her third match point.
The match marked the sixth meeting between the two players, all coming this season with Dokic 4-2 up in their head-to-head series.
Awaiting Dokic in the next round is either world number one Serena Williams or Israel's Anna Smashnova, who play their first-round match later on Thursday.
"My aim was to get through the first match and I did that," said Dokic, looking ahead to a possible clash with Williams.
"Serena's the one who has only lost a match or two this season and been unbeatable. I have no pressure, I'll enjoy it.
"I have nothing to lose, it's the last tournament."
