SportsLine wire reports

MELBOURNE, Australia -- All bets are off for Lindsay Davenport at the Australian Open.

Or, as they say in France, "Les jeux sont faits, rien ne va plus!"

THE WORLD NO. 1 CAME OUT well ahead at Melbourne's gigantic Crown Casino in the past 10 days playing blackjack and roulette. "I'm up a lot," she told reporters.

But Davenport's luck ran out Thursday when she met France's Amelie Mauresmo in the semifinals of the year's first Grand Slam event.

She had looked invincible at Melbourne Park after winning a warmup event in Sydney and cruising through the Open draw without dropping a set until the semifinal.

Oddsmakers had installed the U.S. Open champion as the odds-on favorite to win her second successive Grand Slam title.

"It's disappointing. I haven't had a match slip through my hands in a long time, so it's a tough one to swallow in the semifinals," Davenport said.

AT 22, THE AMERICAN became the top women's player last October after trimming down and improving her fitness.

Despite her 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 loss to 29th-ranked Mauresmo in the semifinals and defending champion Martina Hingis's advance into the finals, Davenport will remain the world No. 1. Hingis, 18, has vowed to regain the top ranking.

Davenport blamed herself for the defeat, saying she had been unable to keep up her serve when she most needed it against the 19-year-old Frenchwoman.

"In the big moments, I didn't step up and she came up with some great shots and I threw a few errors," she said.

"But the main thing is, at the end, I was putting second serves in and she was hitting first-serve winners, and that was it."

TRAILING 5-6 IN THE SECOND and third sets, Davenport landed double faults on crucial points, which secured the match for Mauresmo.

"Sometimes it's easier to lose (six-) two and (six-) two than to have chances and lose a close one. It's a learning lesson," she said.

But all is not lost for Davenport. She and her Belarussian doubles partner, Natasha Zvereva, will compete in the final against Hingis and Russian teen-ager Anna Kournikova.

Top seeds Davenport and Zvereva have a score to settle against Hingis. They lost to Hingis and her partners in all four of the last year's Grand Slam doubles finals.