By Dustin Dow
Enquirer staff writer

MASON - After three days of the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open, Lindsay Davenport finally takes Center Court tonight.

The surprise wild-card entry into the field, No. 4 Davenport plays Groveport, Ohio, native Lilia Osterloh at 7 p.m. in the most anticipated match of the tournament so far. Davenport and No. 9 Vera Zvonareva received first-round byes as the top two seeded players, which made for three days of matches between non-top 20 players.

Zvonareva competes for the first time today as well, against Antonella Serra Zanetti in a match that will not begin before 4 p.m.

The slate of matches begins at 3 p.m. today at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, an hour earlier than originally scheduled.

Davenport hopes tonight's match is the first win toward her fourth straight tournament title. Going back to mid-July, the 28-year-old Californian has won 14 consecutive matches and three straight tournaments.

She originally had planned to rest this week but decided to continue playing as much as she could.

"This is the best level I've been at in a number of years," Davenport said. "I just wanted to keep the roll going that I had built."

Osterloh is on a bit of a hot streak as well, having risen almost 100 spots in the WTA rankings in the past month to No. 137.

Amy Frazier became the first American to advance to the quarterfinals when she defeated Mashona Washington 6-4, 6-3 Wednesday on Center Court.

"I'm happy with the way I've been playing," Frazier said. "But each day is a new day and it doesn't really matter what happened the last tournament or even (Wednesday night)."

E-mail ddow@enquirer.com