For Lindsay Davenport, it was another almost.

The no. 1 ranked player in the world misplaced her serve and her poise on an evening of ugly tennis in Melbourne, dropping her Australian Open quarterfinal match against Justine Henin-Hardenne 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Henin-Hardenne played horribly to start, but steadied her inconsistent serve as Davenport struggled mightily with hers. Fitness and mental toughness carried the day, and in the end, Henin-Hardenne had a bit more of both.

The defeat will cost Davenport her top ranking, which likely will end up in the hands of Kim Clijsters once this tournament ends. The greater loss, however, is the passing of another excellent opportunity for the 29-year-old American to win her fourth Grand Slam title and her first in six years. In Melbourne last year, she missed by a few games. At Wimbledon, she came within a point. Time is running out.

Unlike her loss to a seemingly spent Serena Williams last year or her near miss against Venus Williams at Wimbledon, last night’s defeat was no surprise. Henin-Hardenne, when healthy, is the true no. 1 tennis player in the world, a versatile, agile, and graceful player with a powerful forehand and backhand, not to mention a serve with uncommon zip for a woman her size (5-foot-6). After struggling with injuries since winning in Australia two years ago, Henin-Hardenne arrived in Melbourne as fit as she has been in a long while.

Yet the beautiful duel that was promised never emerged. It was a night for patchy play, frustrating errors, and woeful serving. Both players were spotty at the outset, but Henin-Hardenne quickly declined from there.

The Belgian’s first serve, often a problem, was a study in consistency: consistently out. She made nine of 26 first serves in the set, a 35% rate. She also double-faulted four times. Davenport punished Henin-Hardenne’s second offerings, winning 15 of those 17 points (88%). Henin-Hardenne, not surprisingly, lost the set without holding serve once.

Considering that she did not play well in the first set, Davenport must have considered herself lucky to not just win it, but win it convincingly.Though her serve was more effective than Henin-Hardenne’s, it was by no means worthy of praise. She made 60% of her first serves, a respectable number, but only won 47% of those points. She won 50% of her second-serve points.

Did Davenport’s sprained ankle spell the end of her serve? Whatever the cause might have been, the match largely turned on the fact that Davenport never rid herself of the serving bug and Henin-Hardenne did. As Davenport’s first-serve percentage fell to 50% in the second set and then 57% in the third set, Henin-Hardenne improved hers to 67% and 56%.

And while Henin-Hardenne, an excellent returner, continued to hammer Davenport’s second serves and even her first ones, Davenport did less and less against Henin-Hardenne’s effective first strike. Despite the slow start, Henin-Hardenne ended the match with an overall winning percentage on her serve of .512, up from an abysmal .307 in the first set. Davenport, in comparison, finished at .472.

Despite all these unfavorable numbers, Davenport had chances to prevail. In the third set, she was broken early and flashed the signature forlorn look that often prefaces a collapse. But trailing 2-0 and 30-0, Davenport capitalized on one of Henin-Hardenne’s 11 double faults and earned herself a break point. She then ended a 26-stroke rally with soft backhand drop shot that the speedy Henin-Hardenne could not retrieve. Davenport did not just break serve, either. She held her own in a deuce game and jumped out to a 0-30 lead on Henin-Hardenne’s serve.

It was at this point that the difference in fitness and toughness between these two players became apparent. The Belgian stubbornly refuses to abandon her aggressive game, no matter the odds. Last night, this gamble paid dividends as Davenport, perhaps tired and certainly frustrated, missed more groundstrokes as the match neared its conclusion.

Henin-Hardenne survived two break points at 2-2, one on a second serve after Davenport fired an easy forehand long. In the next game, she gained a 15-40 advantage with a spectacular crosscourt passing shot. Davenport recovered to deuce, but missed two routine strokes to lose the game. Henin-Hardenne threw in two double faults in the next game before holding with two consecutive aces.

Next up for Henin-Hardenne is Maria Sharapova, a woman with less variety than the Belgian but an equal amount of fighting spirit. The Russian escaped an awful outing of her own against countrywoman Nadia Petrova, 7-6 (6), 6-4.

Petrova is an imposing, athletic figure whose physical gifts are often dwarfed by a dismal attitude. Against Sharapova, her forceful but ever-erratic serve doomed her. She connected on only 48% of first serves, her worst percentage of the tournament. As Sharapova teed off on second serves, Petrova kept going for broke on her first, rather than taking a little off and making Sharapova guess. On important points, she was too tense. One can only hope that a new coach – she has announced the dismissal of her current one – can help her put her powerful game to good use.

As for Davenport, she vowed to keep at it, saying she would return to Melbourne next year. Perhaps by then she will have one last major trophy in tow.

***

After Marcos Baghdatis, the 20-year-old from Cyprus who has become the darling of Melbourne, defeated Andy Roddick, we said he would not fare as well against Ivan Ljubicic if he did not clean up his service games. Turns out we failed to estimate the depth of Ljubicic’s weakness on returns.

Baghdatis served about the same, and while Ljubicic did better than Roddick, win he could not, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3. Fans of the Cypriot and the Croatian Davis Cup hero have been the most boisterous of the tournament, and each side cheered on its man with an energy that kept security guards on their toes.

When it came to returns, Ljubicic was flat-footed, losing 60% of points on Baghdatis’s weak second ball and winning less, 54%, on his own. Credit Baghdatis, though, for steady play, excellent speed, and passing shots that never cease to amaze, such as the running crosscourt forehand that sped past Ljubicic on the decisive break point of the fifth set.

This men’s tournament, depleted by injuries before it began, has found the antidote it needed in the exciting and charismatic Baghdatis. If he defeats David Nalbandian in the semifinals, it would be a major surprise indeed.

tperrotta@nysun.com