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| August 23, 2003 | Saturday | Jumadi-us-Sani 24, 1424 |
Capriati ends Pistolesi’s winning streak
NEW HAVEN (Connecticut), Aug 22: Jennifer Capriati ended the 12-match winning streak of Israeli Anna Pistolesi to reach the semifinals of the Pilot Pen event with a 6-4 5-7 6-1 victory on Thursday.
The third seeded American will next face Amelie Mauresmo of France after the number two seed beat Japan’s Ai Sugiyama 6-4 6-4.
Capriati took almost two hours for her victory and was stretched by an opponent who has recently won titles in Poland and Finland.
After dominating the opening exchanges, breaking serve twice to love and dropping just four points in the first four games, Capriati increasingly found herself pulled into long and draining baseline rallies.
Having taken two hours 11-minutes to beat Elena Bovina on Wednesday night, the last thing Capriati wanted was a long match in the midday heat — especially so close to next week’s US Open.
But Pistolesi prevented Capriati from attacking with big shots from the baseline and made the American fight through 20 and 30 stroke rallies.
Pistolesi had two chances to take the second set, blowing the first by hitting three consecutive double-faults to drop her serve after breaking to lead 5-3.
But she made no mistake on her second opportunity, breaking again for the set by forcing a backhand error.
Playing someone who does little to win the point except through persistence, especially in hot and humid conditions, was a frustrating experience for Capriati.
Mauresmo struggled to find any consistency against Sugiyama, and had to battle to pull out the second set after her eighth seeded opponent broke to lead 2-0 and then led 4-1 and had 30-0 on Mauresmo’s serve.
But the Frenchwoman broke back in the seventh game, saved a break point before holding for 4-4 and then broke to lead 5-4 with a crosscourt backhand.
Mauresmo closed out the match by winning five straight games, hitting a disputed ace on the final point.
Quarterfinals:
Lindsay Davenport (USA x1) bt Magui Serna (SPA) 6-0, 7-5; Amelie Mauresmo (FRA x2) bt Ai Sugiyama (JPN x8) 6-4, 6-4; Jennifer Capriati (USA x3) bt Anna Pistolesi (ISR) 6-2, 5-7, 6-1; Elena Dementieva (RUS) bt Cara Black (ZIM) 6-1, 6-1.
Paradorn ADCANCES
LONG ISLAND (New York): Top seed and defending champion Paradorn Srichaphan moved into the quarterfinals of the TD Waterhouse Cup with a 6-3 6-4 win over Sargis Sargsian of Armenia on Thursday.
With the victory, the Thai set up a last-eight encounter against American qualifier Jeff Morrison.
Morrison advanced to his first ATP quarterfinal of the season with a 7-6 6-3 upset win over Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny.
Nicolas Kiefer of Germany, a wild card at this event, continued his run to a third consecutive quarter-final by defeating Brazilian Flavio Saretta 6-3 6-1.
Kiefer reached the last four in Los Angeles and the quarterfinals at Indianapolis in his previous two tournaments.
Juan Ignacio Chela will meet Kiefer on Friday after the Argentine defeated Belgian Olivier Rochus 7-6 6-1.
In Friday’s other quarterfinals, Gustavo Kuerten takes on free-swinging Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui while American James Blake faces Finn Jarkko Nieminen.
Results
Paradorn Srichaphan (THA x1) bt Sargis Sargsian (ARM) 6-3, 6-4; Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG) bt Olivier Rochus (BEL) 7-6 (7/3), 6-1; Nicolas Kiefer (GER) bt Flavio Saretta (BRA) 6-3, 6-1; Jeff Morrison (USA) bt Mikhail Youznhy (RUS) 7-6 (9/7), 6-3.—Reuters
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