Friday, November 5, 2004

Venus Williams and Jennifer Capriati lost their shots at qualifying for the WTA Tour Championships with losses Friday in the Advanta tournament.

Top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo beat Williams 7-5, 5-7, 6-1. Vera Zvonareva ousted Capriati fell 6-0, 6-1 in their quarterfinals match.

Williams and Mauresmo did an excellent job of holding serve in the first set, with Mauresmo picking up the only break to win. In the second set, neither player held until Williams hung on at 4-3 to go up a break.

But Mauresmo cruised to a 3-0 lead and ran away with the final set.

"It was a story of my errors," Williams said. "I'm always putting play forward, which is the style of my game."

After a long first game that featured three deuces, Zvonareva took control against Capriati and won the opening eight games.

The Russian tracked down nearly every ball and took advantage of Capriati's serving problems.

"She's fast," Capriati said. "When someone gets confidence, the more confident they get, the better they play, and I wasn't putting enough juice on the ball today."

Zvonareva will face Nadia Petrova in the semifinals. Seventh-seeded Petrova defeated French Open champion Anastasia Myskina 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova, seeded third, defeated Olympic bronze medalist Alicia Molik 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 to reach the semifinals.

Jennifer Capriati and Elena Dementieva should have skipped right to the third set.

After trading lopsided first and second sets Friday, Capriati and Dementieva staged one of the most remarkable third sets in Grand Slam semifinal history; 86 minutes stuffed with a 49-stroke volley, eight games with at least one deuce, four breaks of serve each, and a tiebreak won by Dementieva, giving her a 6-0, 2-6, 7-6 (5) win to clinch the first all-Russian women's final in US Open history. She will play Saturday night against Svetlana Kuznetsova, who defeated Lindsey Davenport.

Dementieva won the first nine points of the match, and 25 of 30 in the first set. The set lasted 17 minutes, and Capriati looked stunned near the end of it, rushing her serves, rushing to her side of the court between changeovers, and rushing her groundstrokes.

"She could not play at all in the beginning," Dementieva said. "It was so easy."

But the American entered the match while serving in the second, winning a service game at love to tie it, 1-1, and then breaking Dementieva to go up a break at 3-2. She won the next three games, finishing the set in 32 minutes. Nobody could have imagined what was about to ensue.

Just two points into the set, Dementieva appeared to take control of the point, whacking a forehand to Capriati's backhand. But Capriati hit it back just as hard. The form repeated itself several times, with Capriati squeaking her way back into control, and then teeter-tottering the advantage back to Dementieva. The crowd would scream at shots that appeared to be winners, only to gasp when they were kept in play. On swat No. 48, Capriati reached with her forehand and hit it up in the air, with Dementieva standing at the net. The Russian hit an overhead but hit it long, touching off a standing ovation from the crowd. Capriati threw her racket down in exhausted exuberance and pumped both fists in the air, and both players slid their hands onto their knees to gain their breath.

It was not the match's only long volley, but it was perhaps the most explanatory piece of foreshadowing of the tournament so far. The first four games of the set featured four breaks of serve, with three of the games going to deuce. Two of those games went four deuces before they were won. Dementieva, as usual, was weak on her serves, sometimes shelling them out at just 57 mph. But she was so solid, consistent and varying on her returns, that she and Capriati remained even.

Once Dementieva held her serve to go up 3-2, Capriati held back, to make it 3-3. Then they traded breaks again. After falling down 0-30 on her serve in the ninth game, Dementieva rallied for three straight points to make it 40-30, but double-faulted when she tried to mix in a 99-mph second serve. After deuce, she fought off four Capriati break points.

Capriati fought off a game point, too, although it came on a horrendous, 53-mph Dementieva second serve that ended up as a fault. To win the game, Dementieva outlasted Capriati in another dramatic volley, with the wind blowing balls that headed out back in, and balls headed for the sides back to the middle. Finally, No. 8 seed Capriati hit one long, and was serving to stay in the match at 5-4.

The crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium laughed at the absurdity of what they were watching, an instant classic that the networks will unquestionably replay during next year's rain delays.

After Capriati quickly held, Dementieva was broken - yes there was a deuce involved - and Capriati had the chance to serve out the match. But, predictably in this most unpredictable of matches, Dementieva wrestled it to 15-40, with two chances to force a tiebreak. Capriati fended off the first one, but then served up her only double fault of the match to force what seemed to be an inevitable tiebreak.

Both seemed tired in the tiebreak, and the two actually held their serves for the first four points. But Dementieva quickly went up 5-2, ripping a forehand winner off an 84-mph Capriati first serve. Capriati was able to fight off one match point, but at 6-5, Dementieva laced a backhand winner into the corner, winning the two-hour, 15-minute match and setting up her second all-Russian Grand Slam final this year.

"She played the conditions better than me," said a misty-eyed Capriati in her post-match press conference. "She was smart with the wind."

When asked why she didn't take better advantage of Dementieva's weak serves, she said, "That's really not my game.

"We both played a great match," Capriati said. "I didn't give it away. She just played better on the court."

Dementieva, the No. 6 seed here, lost the French Open final to Anastasia Myskina. She will try to win her first major on Saturday night.

One day after she was quoted as saying she would rather not play a Russian in the final, Dementieva backed off on her words a bit.

by Jason Brown
Tuesday, September 7, 2004

The seventeenth edition of the Serena Williams-Jennifer Capriati rivalry took another twist and transcended its showcase billing on Day 9 of the 2004 US Open, becoming an instant classic, filled with spectacular shot-making from both players, a controversial ruling by the chair umpire, and, in the end, an emotional quarterfinal victory for Capriati in three sets, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

With the win, Capriati advanced to the women's semifinals for the second consecutive year, fourth overall, where she will meet Elena Dementieva of Russia, and continue her quest for a first-ever US Open women's championship.

Capriati is 3-0 in her career against Dementieva, the sixth-seed, and upended her in the Round of 16 at the 2003 US Open.

"I just fought hard and I prevailed because of that, because I was just fighting," said Capriati, now 10-7 lifetime against Williams. "I think I played smartly at times and mixed up my shots, and I just believed in myself."

For the first time since the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 2001, Capriati came back from a set behind, and defeated her career rival.

"There's no place I'd rather be, no matter how hard it can actually be," said Capriati, describing the feeling of playing in New York at the US Open. "You feel like you want to cry out there because you want to win so bad."

The 125-minute all-American saga, a back-and-forth trial of will and might with break points, blistering serves, and marvelous winners plastered all over the court, intensified as the match unfolded.

Broken on her first service game of the match, Capriati fell behind quickly. The early mistake committed against one of the best servers in tennis, Williams held steadfast and raced out to a one-set advantage, historically, a commanding position in their rivalry.

With Williams serving to begin the second set, Capriati drew close, scrambling to get every ball back into play, and earned double-break point, the second of which she converted on to return the favor on Williams.

Walloping herself on the leg to keep up the intensity, Capriati was clearly focused on her game and intent on going to work and finding a way to grind out the win.

"The fans are known to root for the underdog here, and I think they feel like that I'm the underdog and maybe they just want to see me win this one," said Capriati, clearly pumped up throughout the match by the evening crowd.

Capping off a scintillating second set, Capriati served for the second set at 5-4, and on a brilliant topspin overhead, leveled the battle at one set apiece.

Controversy in the beginning of the third set put a damper on the high quality of play exhibited from Capraiti and Williams.

After trading breaks, Capriati served for the match leading, 5-4.

As the match passed the two-hour mark, nerves took hold of Capriati, double-faulting on the first point. Then, following a second controversial line call, Capriati edged ahead, 30-15.

"I know my balls were in," Williams said. "It wasn't just that point, that's the thing. I know my shots. I know in the last game those balls were in as well. So it's like, what do you do? You just got to keep fighting."

Off a wonderful topspin backhand lob winner, Williams pinned at the net, Capriati earned her first match point. Several tense moments later, including yet another call that went against Williams, Capriati earned a third match point and an errant shot from Williams into the net ended the match.

"Just to be at this point, I'm very happy," Capriati said. And, at the end of the day, I think I can be happy with what I've done and achieved. And even win or not win, I should just be thankful that I'm here. And it would be great to win, but if I don't, life goes on."

Go to http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/reports/2004-09-07/200409071094616686229.html

http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/interviews/2004-08-30/200408301093913571265.html

http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/interviews/2004-09-01/200409011094137366074.html

To see Jennifers third round interview go to

http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/interviews/2004-09-03/200409031094247497237.html

To see Jennifers fourth round interview go to

http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/interviews/2004-09-05/200409051094478675102.html

To see Jennifer's Quater Final interview go to

http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/interviews/2004-09-07/200409071094659039884.html

To see Jennifers Semi Final interview go to

http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/interviews/2004-09-10/200409101094858577630.html