BEIJING, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- American veteran Lindsay Davenport entered the semifinals by breezily beating Russian Elena Dementieva 7-6, 6-1 at the China Open tennis tournament quarter finals here on Friday.

    Dementieva, ranked 15th in the world, tried her best in the first set but still lost to the American veteran in the tiebreak.

    The Russian seemed have more strength than Davenport, who just gave birth to her baby three months ago, but her poor serving made the victory impossible.

    The two players broke each other's services in the first three games, but in the fourth game, Dementieva saved her service game.

    Davenport, the master of passing shots, did not run much, but managed to save her service game in the fifth game and broke the Russian's service in the sixth game.

    Dementieva, the 4th seed at the China Open, made seven double errors in the first set. At last, the American regained the momentum, and took a 7-1 win in the tiebreak for the first set 7-6.

    In the second set, the 4th seed totally lost her rhythm and kept making double errors before Davenport overwhelmingly beat her 6-1.

    "I had many opportunities in the first set," said Dementieva after the match, "I broke her service first and once in a 6-4 lead."

    "I'm very disappointed that I lost the first set. Davenport is quite a good player, and she is one of my most difficult opponents."

    Takling about the Olympic games, the Russian said: "I really want to present Russia to play the Olympics, and I know it is very difficult since Russia has a lot of players ranked ahead of me. I'll try my best."

    Davenport will face the winner of Jankovic and Akiko Morigami in the semifinal.