Top seed Lindsay Davenport breathed a sigh of relief after advancing to the semi-finals of the Australian Open with a thrilling victory over local favourite Alicia Molik.
In front of a capacity 16,000 crowd hoping to celebrate Australia Day with victories for Molik and Lleyton Hewitt, Davenport had to use all her experience to win 6-4 4-6 9-7 in two hours and 33 minutes at Rod Laver Arena.
The world number one will play France's Nathalie Dechy in tomorrow's semi-finals after the 19th seed beating Switzerland's Patty Schnyder 5-7 6-1 7-5.
"I'm not sure how I am standing here, I feel very lucky to get through that," said a relieved Davenport , seeking to end a five-year grand slam title drought in Melbourne.
"There were a lot of ups and downs. I feel I had it in the third set and let it go and a lot of times you don't get another opportunity."
PA