HERE'S ONE FOR THE LATE-BLOOMERS; DAVENPORT IS FIRST HOME-GROWN WOMEN'S CHAMPION SINCE 1982.

Byline: Wayne Coffey New York Daily News 

With a slimmed-down body and a beefed-up resolve, Lindsay Davenport made it to the first Grand Slam final of her life Saturday, and turned it into an afternoon she won't soon forget.

Davenport pounded groundstrokes. She moved the world's No. 1 player around like a chess piece. She put on a stunning display of power tennis in Arthur Ashe Stadium. And by the time she was done, the second-seeded Davenport had knocked off defending champion Martina Hingis 6-3, 7-5, capturing the U.S. Open title and starting to cry before they even handed her the silver cup and the check for $700,000.

``You can't put words into how much it means, being a pro for so many years, and this being the goal always,'' Davenport said.

The triumph by Davenport, a 22-year-old from Newport Beach, marked the first time a home-grown woman has won America's Grand Slam since Chris Evert in 1982. In a sport teeming with teen-age wonders, it was also a triumph for the world's steady late-bloomers.

Davenport came into Flushing Meadows as the world's hottest player, and after a two-week, seven-match rampage, nothing changed.

She took out No. 5 Venus Williams in Friday's semifinals. She did not lose so much as a set here, winning her 20th match in her last 21 tries Saturday, finishing things off with her second final-round victory over Hingis, the 17-year-old Swiss, in the past four weeks.

That it came on her mother's birthday made it just a bit sweeter.

``It's hard to beat her right now,'' Hingis said. ``She's had an awesome tournament. She deserves it.''

The 6-foot-2-1/2, 175-pound Davenport, the 1996 Olympic gold medalist, comes from a long line of volleyball players (her father, Wink, was on the 1968 Olympic team), and did everything but spike tennis balls at Hingis, showing pulverizing power from the baseline, and the new-found fleetness that arrived when 30 extra pounds departed.

Davenport had Hingis on the defensive almost from the outset, blasting return winners off Hingis' serves, breaking her three times in the opening set, the last of them coming in the ninth game as she closed out the set with a blistering backhand winner.

Davenport had a good bit of fortune a couple of games earlier, when she missed a volley at deuce only to get a reprieve. A gust of wind had blown Davenport's white hat off just before her miss, prompting chair umpire Dessie Samuels to order the point replayed.

Two points later, Hingis missed a backhand and Davenport was up two breaks. ``I don't like the rule,'' Hingis said. ``It's not fair to the players.''

Hingis complained, but her far greater problem was Davenport's deep, darting groundstrokes and relentless aggressiveness.

Davenport's only wobble started in the seventh game of the second set, after she had broken Hingis with a crackling backhand return winner.

One point away from going up 5-2, Davenport clubbed an easy backhand volley wide, then floated a forehand long to get broken.

``Definitely some nerves crept in,'' Davenport said.

Hingis held at 15, broke Davenport again on a forehand crosscourt winner and was serving for a third set when Davenport rapidly righted herself.

She broke Hingis at love for 5-5, whacked a backhand winner to hold at 15 in Game 11 and finished 81 minutes of work with a backhand winner down the line after running down a Hingis drop shot.

Hingis, who won just one Slam this year after taking three in 1997, was left to mull over what might have been if she'd taken the second set. She spoke of Davenport's mental resilience, how she doesn't get down on herself the way she did before. Davenport agreed it has made a huge difference.

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PHOTO (Color) Lindsay Davenport's first Grand Slam title was precious. She beat Martina Hingis in two sets to win the U.S. Open championship.

Rusty Kennedy/Associated Press