Dokic fairytale continues for now

Trouble on an outside court and it wasn't Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario packing her bags. Jelena Dokic, the player of the moment, was at it again, roughing up another player. Sweet 16 and the teenage qualifier continues to scrap and fight her way through the top of the women's draw, then tells us all not to worry.

This time, however, Dokic has been accused by the highly regarded BBC analyst and former professional player Pam Shriver of being illegally coached by her father from the player's box. Shriver accused Dokic's father Damir of giving elementary signals to his daughter whom, she also alleges, looked to the box more frequently than in her last match.

When asked did her dad help, she said: "Yes, I guess so. I don't know. No signs. I mean he didn't tell me how to play." Well, that's cleared that up.

Unranked Katarina Studenikova is not the world number one Martina Hingis, but her world ranking of 114 is a little better than Dokic's 129 and whether or not the controversial Mr Dokic was coaching from above, it still represents a good win by Jelena.

Dokic couldn't raise her game to the withering heights of Tuesday but, for such a callow player, the Australian certainly demonstrated what self containment can achieve.

Dokic won the first set 6-0 in a whirl to add to her 10 games in a row against Hingis and forced Studenikova to pick up her tempo. The 26-year-old Slovak took the second set 6-4 and Dokic struggled. The youngster then went three break points down, Studenikova taking a 5-3 lead in the final set. Dokic then rallied and pulled through to win 8-6.

"No, I never wavered," Dokic said. "I was 15-40 and I thought I could still get back. Like I said, it's never over and you saw it in that game. You know she had 15-40, she had a net. Becker was match points down, so you ask him how he feels. You've always got to think positive and think that you can win."

Dokic is also finding out how hot the spotlight can be. A tabloid journalist received a call from his boss instructing him to ask Dokic what the brown mark was on her chin. Explaining away birth marks may soon be one of the easiest questions she will have to face.

"It could be overwhelming. Like I said, you've got to keep your feet on the ground and so you do. It's a bit hard to do that with all the attention and the press and everything."

Sanchez-Vicario yesterday seemed to struggle, as she did in her first round win. A finalist here in 1995 and 1996 and the Olympic silver medallist at Atlanta in 1996, Sanchez-Vicario faltered in two sets against 25-year-old American Lisa Raymond, ranked 37 in the world.

"Maybe next year I will come and see if it can be the year," Sanchez-Vicario said. "I'm really not pushing myself that I have to win here. If I do, great. If I do not, I will try my best."

Lindsay Davenport has only dropped seven games in two matches. Yesterday's 6-2, 6-2 win over Karina Habsudova in 44 minutes should be sending a strong message to everyone left in the draw that the current US champion means business.

Given Hingis's departure, it also cements the American's position as the leading challenger in the top half of the draw. The former world number one was stronger in every department yesterday, putting Habsudova, a former rhythmic gymnast, through the hoops with her heavy serving and searing ground strokes.

Similarly, last year's champion Jana Novotna showed no adverse signs of her ankle injury, taking an hour and 28 minutes to beat Sylvia Plischke 6-3, 6-1. Ironically, it was Plischke who put Novotna out of the French Open just four weeks ago.

"I struggled a bit today, more than the score shows," Novotna said. "It's not easy to play a player who I lost to in the last Grand Slam." "My ankle is doing pretty good but a little bit sore at the end of the match. I'll use my day off to get fit again and ready."