Lindsay Davenport was not a big challenge to fifth-seeded Maria Sharapova who defeated her 6-1 6-3 in little over an hour.

Sharapova took the first set in just 26 minutes. The second set was much more competitive, but still Davenport couldn't find an answer to Sharapova's confident play and devastating form.

Everybody was disappointed that these two former world number ones had to meet as early as in the second round of the 2008 Australian Open. However, we must admit that the comeback mom Lindsay Davenport didn’t live up to the expectations, as we were expecting a much tougher battle and a continuation of her more than impressive comeback.

Davenport herself is not satisfied with her performance, but is still optimistic (and she should be!). "I know I can play better than I did here this week," said the former Australian Open champion. "I've got to figure out a way to play better again at the bigger tournaments."

Maria Sharapova will face fellow Russian Elena Vesnina in round three. (photo via Getty Images)

Lindsay Davenport overcame Aravane Rezai in just 51 minutes to win ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, her third title in four tournaments played since her comeback. The final score was 6-2 6-2.

The American returned to action in September after a year out to have her first child, son Jagger, and has since seen nothing but success winning 18 of her 19 matches, and adding titles from the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic, Bell Challenge, and now ASB Classic to her already impressive resume.

The former world number one, who was unseeded, did not face a single break point in the final against France’s world No.90 Rezai, who was looking for her first WTA Tour title.

Davenport's astonishing performance shows that she could be a major threat at the first Grand Slam of the season, the Australian Open, which starts January 14.

BTW: Davenport improved her percentage of wins in singles to 79.4 percent — 792 wins in 918 matches — the best winning percentage in WTA history. (sources: BBC, ESPN, photo via: WTA World)

Lindsay Davenport reached her third final in four tournaments since her comeback with a 6-4 6-3 victory over sixth seed Tamira Paszek at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.

Note that this was Davenport’s 17th win out of 18 matches since her return. Impressive! And now she’s only one match away from winning her 54th career title.

In the final, Davenport will meet unseeded Aravane Rezai of France, who ended the surprise run of home wildcard Marina Erakovic 6-3 7-5. (source: Reuters, photo: Yellowballin’)

When I found this photo of little Lindsay Davenport playing tennis I was very pleased that my collection, that could be called "Photos of Female Tennis Players When They Were Kids", is getting richer (slowly but surely). I've already published young pictures of Ana Ivanovic, Kim Clijsters, and Monica Seles.

(image of Lindsay found at WTA World)

Former world number one Lindsay Davenport recently talked about her calendar plans for 2008 and Roland Garros is a tournament she will most certainly skip. Davenport, a mother of a five-month-old Jagger, plans to take part in three Grand Slams in 2008 – the Australian Open and Wimbledon are a priority, while she’ll play at the US Open if everything goes according to plan.

“My goals are to be able to play the Australian Open, to get to Wimbledon, play the Olympics and obviously I would love to play the US Open one more time,” said the 31-year-old American. “The French Open has always been a tough grand slam for me and I am not positive I will go there.”

Davenport will start the next season at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand. (source: On the Baseline, photo: Bell Challenge)