Jennifer Capriati might not have expected as easy a start as she got to her match against resurgent Japanese Ai Sugiyama. Ai was a surprise player to reach the quarterfinals, taking out a lackadaisical Mary Pierce in the Round of 16. Jen served to open the set, and three quick games gave her a break and a 3-0 lead. Then she sat down, clutching her stomach, and called for the trainer. Ironic, because it was Ai, with the heavy wrap on her left thigh, that looked like the injured warrior.

The problem must just have been precautionary, as Jennifer continued to hit heavy groundies deep into the court, forcing error after uncharacteristic error from Ai. Jennifer rushed through 6 games to take the first set 6-0. Her doubles match the previous day had helped her touch up on her serve and net game, but she wasn't going to fix something that wasn't broke, and stuck to her hard-hitting baseline game. While Jennifer had control over the rallies, though, she had little control over her serve. The double-faults started piling up for her, reminding her of the five double-faults in a row she had served in her first round match at the Open.

Throughout the match, double-faults would haunt both players. Ai was still playing very erratic tennis, following brilliant shots with errors, but a lot of them were forced by Jen's hard groundies, running the Japanese around the court. As the match went on, Ai started to play a lot looser, but Jen had already taken 10 games in a row, leading 4-0 in the second set. Finally, aided by a double-fault or two from Jennifer, Ai threw her head into the wind and got her first game of the match, breaking Jen's serve. Appreciative of Ai's efforts, the crowd gave her some very good applause. Suddenly finding herself on the scoreboard, Ai must have felt better, and she played better too, going up 40-love on her serve. Which was a good thing, too, because she needed all three points to take her second game of the match.

Jennifer, not wanting to lose both breaks, got some good serves in, nearly taking her service game at love, and got her errors down in taking the next 2 games, to finish possibly the shortest quarterfinal match for the 2000 Open. Jennifer Capriati has made it to her first semifinal in a long time, and has "made it back," showing everybody, but most importantly herself, that she can still play tennis with the top players. When asked about it in her conference, though, Jennifer wisely said that she'll wait to see how she does against a real top player, before she'll form an opinion of how well she's done. She was quick to realize her mistake however, and credited her opponents in the tournament so far. Jennifer's next match would most probably be against Lindsay Davenport, and that will definitely be the semifinal to watch in the tournament.

After taking a short break, I went to show court 1 to catch Dominique van Roost and Els Callens playing doubles against Anna Kournikova and Barbara Schett. Anna opened the match by serving, and had some good solid serves, unlike in her previous match. Dominique was still making a lot of errors from the baseline, and threw away her service game. Barbara was also serving well, and with Anna putting the pressure on at the net, had an easy service game.

Els finally got her team on the scoreboard, getting her first serves in and then utilizing her touch shots at the net. Els has fantastic hands at the net, and good reflexes to match. With Dominique getting some motivation from her partner's good play, Anna found herself in trouble, down 15-30 in her service game. A double-fault didn't help things much, and Dominique and Els had two break opportunities. They lost both chances, and Anna held serve. The errors continued from Dominique, losing the first set 1-6 for her team.

The play picked up in the second set, though, both teams holding serve until 2-all. Els found herself 2 break points down on her serve, but an error from Anna and some good volleying from Els saved both break points. Unfortunately, Anna and Babsi got the break anyway, to go up 3-2, Barbara serving. All was not lost for the Belgian team, as Dominique stepped into her returns, and with Dominique playing a more solid baseline game and Els holding up at net, Barbara went down 0-40, and double-faulted to give the break back.

Dominique continued her solid play, and Els made the right decisions to finish off the points at net. Dominique held serve easily to put them ahead for the first time in the match. Games went on serve, and at 4-all, Els found herself facing 2 break points again. She saved those with some good serving, and got the advantage off a service return error, but Dominique lost the chance to hold the game when she blew an overhead, mishitting it and sending it way over the baseline. One error each from Anna and Babsi gave Els a narrow escape with her service game. Now Barbara would have to serve to keep her team in the second set. She did so with ease, and now the pressure was on Dominique to hold serve.

Els kept opening chances for her team, watching the players opposite her carefully and poaching at the right times, executing marvelous touch volleys and putting the ball away when she needed to, but Dominique's flat groundstrokes continued to give her a low percentage. With more excellent net play from Els and hard-hitting rallies with Dominique and either Anna or Babsi, the Belgians went up 6-5.

Anna and Barbara weren't about to give up the second set, though, and took it to a tie-breaker. The Belgians fought hard to keep their hopes alive, and went up 3-1, but a double-fault by Dominique marked the start of a trouble patch for them. Els tried to come up with a little too much at net, and combined with Dominique's low percentage shots, they lost 4 points in a row, when Els finally got a nice volley winner. Els got a volley long on the next shot, though, giving Anna and Babsi a match point. It was almost appropriate that the match ended on a service return error off Dominique's racquet. With the crowd surging for the usual autograph frenzy, Els and Dominique trudged off court amid a good round of applause from the crowd.

The stands remained reasonably filled, though, as the spectators would be treated to another popular doubles team. The third seeds, Mary Pierce and Martina Hingis, would be playing their quarterfinal match against the team that finally ended the run of Tathiana Garbin and Katalin Marosi, Debbie Graham and Nana Miyagi.

As usual, Debbie opened with some strong serving, and got the first game of the match. She also got two service return winners in a row off Mary Pierce's first serve, the first one down the alley and the second one right over Martina's (who ducked under the net) head. The unseeded pair got a 40-15 lead, and actually broke Mary's serve to go up 2-0.

One lucky net cord for Mary and one unlucky one for Nana gave Hingis and Pierce a chance to break back, but Nana saved both with one service winner and another down-the-line passing shot. She couldn't carry on with the magic on the next few points, though, and finally lost serve to give the break back.

The players continued with the best doubles yet in the tournament, and both teams had to work hard to keep their service games. Finally, at 3-all, Nana lost her serve again, and Martina would serve to consolidate the break. After starting the match so well, Nana started making a number of silly unforced errors. Debbie was also going for a little too much, and Martina held serve easily to go up 5-3. Four good returns from Mary and Martina gave them the game at love and the first set.

Mary and Martina were now on a roll and comfortably on top, and they played more like the seeded pair that they are. They continued their high level of play, and totally outplayed their opponents. Holding two match points, Martina punctuated the match with an ace, moving her team into the semifinals with a close to effortless 6-3 6-1 win.

In the night match, Lindsay Davenport was up against Julie Halard-Decugis. While this match would have been the best quarterfinal match as far as numbers go, it was more of a mismatch than any other quarterfinal match in the draw. Just as Julie had tamed the precocious youngsters in her earlier rounds, Julie was clearly outmatched by Lindsay in the first set. Lindsay's returns were as good as ever, and her groundstrokes deep and penetrating as usual. Julie was jerked all over the court, hardly able to recover from her service before having to scramble for the return. She found herself down 0-4 before finally holding serve and getting on the scoreboard. Which was lucky for her, because she got her game nearly purely from Lindsay's missed returns.

Just as Lindsay took the next two games to wrap up the first set, a light drizzle started to come down over the courts. Both players pulled their jackets on, packed up their bags, and left the court. For some odd reason, the roof was left open. Perhaps it was because the rain was so light and didn't threaten to last too long. After a brief delay, both players came back on and were given some time to warm up. As the players got ready to resume their match, a flock of white and grey birds flew by and settled on the "railing" attached to the top of the retractable roof, standing in a row as if coming back from some concession stand somewhere.

Julie came out with slightly better tactics, and managed to get the opportunity to play more aggressively. However, she still went down 0-3, and was serving for her second game of the match. On one point, Lindsay, as usual got a great return in, but Julie just managed to block the backhand return back. She scrambled for shot after shot to her backhand, and finally sliced a dropshot winner amid rumbling applause. Lindsay wasn't taking any chances at all, though, and was more than a little mercenary in taking a 5-0 lead in the second set.

Julie looked adamant on not losing the second set without taking a game. She looked like she had a good chance to get on the scoreboard when she went up 30-love, but Lindsay got her trademark service return winner for 30-15. The nerves showed when Julie got a double-fault, evening it up at 30-all. Another service return winner gave Lindsay her first match point. Julie played a great point, hitting hard in the rally and running Lindsay around, and saved the match point. She did the same thing on the next point, and a forehand from Lindsay went long. A service return error from Lindsay Davenport finally gave Julie a game in the second set.

Lindsay got off on the wrong foot in her service game, starting with a double-fault. Lindsay was getting some good first serves, but Julie was lightning quick in getting a block return low. A dropshot by Lindsay landed in the net, giving Julie a 0-30 lead. Julie got 2 good returns in, catching Lindsay off-guard, but went for a passing shot that landed just wide on the first point and forced an error from Lindsay on the second. Down 15-40 on her serve for the first time, Lindsay got a nice winner in, and a service return into the net from Julie brought it to deuce. Understandable irate about letting opportunity slip away, Julie played with more zest on the next point, putting more sting into her shots. She got the advantage, but made an unforced error off a short ball on the next point to bring it back to deuce. Julie went for a deep service return on the next point and came in behind it, getting a volley winner for the advantage again. An unforced error from Lindsay gave Julie a break and her third game of the match.

Lindsay started returning well again in the next game, and with the help of one bad call, held match points again. Julie tried to play aggressively by coming to net, and was looking to have some success, but Lindsay hit a dipping shot across the court, which Julie would probably have gotten to if she hadn't slipped and lost her footing. Disappointed but clearly recognizing that Lindsay had played remarkable tennis, the two players shook hands at net, and Julie got a great round of applause, almost as loud as the one for Lindsay, on her way off the court.

Tomorrow will see two more evenly matched singles quarterfinals, with Martina Hingis taking on Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, and Conchita Martinez facing Elena Likhovtseva.