Tracy Austin

MELBOURNE, Australia -

Just seven months following birth by caesarian section to her first child, Jagger, Lindsay Davenport found herself in her first extended battle since coming back to the women's tour at the Australian Open on Monday afternoon. Despite some flashes of inconsistency, the 31-year-old American prevailed, dispatching Italy's Sara Errani 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 in 2 hours, 19 minutes.

That set up her highly anticipated second-round clash with last year's finalist Maria Sharapova, who beat Jelena Kostanic Tosic 6-4, 6-3.

Davenport showed some patchiness (five double faults and 48 unforced errors) against No. 65 Errani, who she had easily beaten twice since coming back in September, including earlier this month. Windy conditions and nerves were factors, as the American admitted in her post-match press conference that she tightened up on the big stage of a Grand Slam after playing mostly smaller events. Davenport also said she perhaps was looking ahead to her clash with former U.S. Open and Wimbledon winner Sharapova, the marquee women's match of the first week.

Passing a tough first test
The positive for Davenport was she managed to clean up her game when it counted in the third set. It was a crucial match for her to come through and I'm sure it wouldn't have felt good to lose in the first round of the Australian Open with buzz already building for Wednesday's contest between two multiple major winners.

It's phenomenal that Davenport is even back in the mix being mentioned as a top-tier player so soon after Jagger's birth. Not long ago we thought she was done with professional tennis, and so did she. The Southern California native, now ranked No. 51, missed all of 2006 and gave every indication that she was finished with tennis. Who could blame her? A three-time Grand Slam winner and former No. 1 who is happily married to one-time USC standout Jon Leach, Davenport had little to prove or seemingly gain by jumping back into the fray.

But she stayed in great shape during her pregnancy, and with the siren song of the Beijing Olympics calling, she gradually changed her mind. Six weeks after Jagger's birth, she played in World Team Tennis (with her doctor's blessing, of course). By September, she committed to a few fall events and soon after announced she would play a full schedule through the U.S. Open this year. Her return has been stunningly successful. She has gone 19-1 since coming back to the tour as a mother, snapping up titles in three of four events she's entered. Her only loss was to No. 4 Jelena Jankovic in Beijing, and she had already recorded a win over Serb Jankovic in her comeback event in Bali, which she won.

Banking on her big serve
Davenport's draw makes it tough to know where her game is. If she had played a lower seed this early, we could expect her to go deeper. She will have to play much better than she did against Errani to beat Sharapova, who holds a 4-1 career advantage and ended her season on a high note with a strong performance at the year-end championships in Madrid.

Davenport and Sharapova play a similar game. They're both tall, flat hitters who thrive on taking control of points with their big groundstrokes. Both honed their games under the famed Southern California coach Robert Lansdorp. Both lack the foot speed of other elite players such as the Williams sisters and Justine Henin, but of the two, Sharapova moves better. One advantage for Davenport is that she can sit back and swing out since she has nothing to lose. The pressure will be on Sharapova. The American will need to rely on her big serve to have a chance. It remains a major weapon and can earn her easy points.

Slideshow   Week in Sports Pictures A boxing champ celebrates, a kicker regrets, fans mourn a hero, and much more. more photos

The bottom line: If she doesn't beat Sharapova, then it's not clear where she is relative to the top players. That might take more time to determine. The key is that she seems committed to playing for the whole year, and, heck if it wasn't wonderful to see her out there with those beautiful lanky strokes, hitting it deep and mixing it up with some forays to the net. The crowd clearly pulled for her especially in the tense third set when it looked like she might be tiring a bit. I'm sure the mothers in the crowd kind of feel for her.

Davenport making it work
Has Davenport started a racket-wielding mother trend on the women's tour? Can she win the fourth major of her career? While she joins two other mothers on tour -- Sybille Bammer of Austria and Rossana de los Rios of Paraguay -- I don't see mothers on tour as becoming a common occurrence. Most players want to finish their careers before they have children. It takes so much energy and focus to play at this level that most women would find it hard to separate child-rearing from tennis.

It's working for Davenport since she has a great support network and an ability to compartmentalize, but I'm not expecting to see the same from a lot of other players. I know. I'm a mother of three boys. As for winning a major, it's been more than 25 years. The last mom to win a Grand Slam tournament was Evonne Goolagong at the 1980 Wimbledon.

However this comeback turns out, it's all positive for Davenport. She's here in Australia, healthy, slim, fighting, fit and excited to play, with a beautiful son back in her hotel room and her husband also here to help. What more could you want? What a great thing to share as a family. This is all gravy for her. And by the way, she also set the record Monday for the most prize money in women's tour history, passing Steffi Graf with a dazzling $21,897,501. That's the icing to go with the gravy. At least we know she can afford child care!

MORE FROM TENNIS

Tennis Section Front

Federer rallies at ATP finals ATP says it can't reopen Agassi drug case Interactive: Creating the perfect tennis player ATP, WTA scores, schedules MORE ON TENNIS Latest tennis videos Tennis Section Front   Add Tennis headlines to your news reader: