Davenport quits Olympic singles

Alicia Molik received a welcome reprieve in her bid for a second Olympic tennis medal as former world No.1 Lindsay Davenport ruled herself out of their first round encounter on Sunday.

Davenport, the 1996 Atlanta gold medallist, withdrew with a knee injury, robbing the tournament of one of its popular drawcards but handing Molik a potentially much easier path to the second round.

The Athens bronze medallist will learn on Saturday who her new opponent is, but she is almost certain to be someone ranked outside the top 50 who only lobbed in Beijing expecting to contest the doubles.

Australia's contingent fared dreadfully at Thursday's tournament draw but, of the eight, none deserved a stroke of good fortune more than Molik, whose career climaxed in Athens before illness almost ended it a few months later.

Although the one-time world No.8 has been back on tour fulltime for more than two years, she has never been able to regain her place in the top echelon.

Still, Molik remains the only Australian to have won a medal in singles at an Olympic Games and the 27-year-old is hoping the occasion can drive her to another great run in China.

"I had an amazing run in Athens and I obviously have a lot of fond memories," said Molik, who made her Olympic debut as a teenager at Sydney 2000.

"So to come back my third time, I feel like a bit of a veteran really.

"My body's changed as a player. I've had a few niggles in the last couple of years leading into this Olympics but, more or less, I have those under control.

"I had a great four weeks at home training. I spent a bit of time in Melbourne and a bit of time in the heat up in Brisbane just trying to prepare as best I could for conditions here in Beijing."