Davenport falls short of semis

~ Former champion Henin-Hardenne ousted the American in three sets.

MELBOURNE, Australia -- It has become an all-too-familiar feeling for Lindsay Davenport.

The top-seeded Davenport extended her Grand Slam title drought to six years with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 Australian Open quarterfinal loss to Justine Henin-Hardenne on Tuesday.

"To get out there and play well, then slowly get worse as the match went on -- it's a bad feeling to have when you leave," the 29-year-old American said.

After winning the Australian Open in 2000, Davenport slipped out of the top 10, talked about retiring, then revived her career by regaining the No. 1 ranking and making finals here and at Wimbledon last year.

But the constant throughout the past six years has been a failure to add to her three major championships.

She took on a new coach, Dave DiLucia, for this season and said Tuesday "there's obviously still a lot of stuff that I need to get better."

"I guess I've got the opportunity now the next few months to try and make those improvements," she said, "give it another shot in another few months."

Davenport joined defending champion Serena Williams on the sideline -- they met in the 2005 Australian Open final.

Three women who weren't here a year ago are among those now chasing the title -- Belgians Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters were out with injuries last year, and three-time winner Martina Hingis was retired.

The eighth-seeded Henin-Hardenne's win over Davenport was not shocking. The reigning French Open champion has beaten Davenport in all three of their meetings at Melbourne Park, including the fourth round in 2003 and the quarterfinals in 2004, when she went on to beat Clijsters for the title.

Henin-Hardenne's semifinal opponent will be 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova, who ousted fellow Russian Nadia Petrova 7-6 (6), 6-4 after fighting off two set points in an error-strewn tiebreaker.

Clijsters plays Hingis, and WTA Championship winner Amelie Mauresmo takes on Patty Schnyder in quarterfinals today, with the winners facing off in Thursday's semis.