It was hard to keep up with the action today. Because of yesterday's rain, there were six third-round matches to be played, as well as all the quarterfinals. At the end of this busy but very windy day, the semifinal matchups look like this: Jennifer Capriati - Anke Huber, and Serena Williams - Monica Seles. After all the hand-wringing about the late withdrawals of Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport, this is a very appetizing final four.
We focus our attention on the most competitive quarterfinals: Seles-Hénin and Capriati-Shaughnessy. Finally, we will close the book on the Wynne Prakusya saga that we have been following this week.
Monica Seles (5) def. Justine Hénin (2), 1-6 6-2 6-2
Quarterfinal
Stadium
Previous head-to-head: Seles leads 2-0
Seles had to get an early wake-up call today, as she was summoned for a 10:00 start to play 10th seed Jelena Dokic in one of yesterday's rained-out matches. Having won it 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), Seles returned to the stadium for her second match against Wimbledon finalist Justine Hénin, who was playing her first match of the day. It was their first meeting since January, when Seles edged Hénin in a third-set comeback win at the Australian Open.
Hénin, the little dynamo from Belgium, got off to a roaring start on this windy afternoon to take a 6-1 lead in just 23 minutes. Justine was hitting winners from all angles past a helpless Seles. Monica said after the match that she felt "on the sluggish side". "Coming in here," explained Seles, alluding to her busy summer schedule that has seen her play four weeks in a row, "I played every single day. And to play a tough match against Jelena, where I had to move a lot side to side, and then against J
ustine, it was very tough. If you don't have your legs against her, it's over."
Indeed, it looked all but over for Seles until the match did a 180-degree turnabout in game two of the second set, when Seles unleashed some searing shots to break Hénin's serve. In all, Monica won 12 of the last 15 games. The American was now inside the baseline, moving well, taking the ball early and forcing the Belgian into a continuous defensive posture. She kept the pressure on until the end, punctuating her lethal blows with her shrieking grunts. Hénin hit the occasional strong backhand winner,
but in general had no reply to Seles's imposing display.
So what turned it around? When asked the question in an on-court interview, Seles replied, "I don't really know." Monica was a bit more expansive in her press conference. "When you're a little bit sluggish and things are not going your way, I just try to hang in there?. I just said, you know, 'Just keep on playing'." Hénin saw it this way: "Everything changed when she broke me in the second set, and she got set up in the court. I was on defence, she had control. She was more aggressive, and I was too
far from my baseline. She was better today." Justine refused to use a slight muscle pull in her left thigh (the thigh was wrapped) as an excuse. "It's not serious. A little concern, but nothing really important."
Seles is now officially resurgent now after her excellent play of the past month, as Justine could tell you: "She's come back stronger than she was before her injury," noted the Belgian. Monica will now play another loudly-grunting power player, 4th-seeded Serena Williams, in the semis. Williams was another two-match warrior today. She survived a slow start in the early afternoon to overcome Austrian Barbara Schett in the third round, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, thus avenging her sister's first-round
loss to Schett at this year's French Open. Well warmed-up, Serena then rolled over an exhausted Sandrine Testud in her quarterfinal this evening, 6-0, 6-2 in just 50 minutes. In Testud's defence, she had to work for 2 hours and 35 minutes to subdue 6th-seeded Elena Dementieva early today, 6-7 (2-7), 7-5, 7-6 (7-4), in a match filled with long rallies. Frankly, it was not a match Dementieva should have lost: the Russian served for the match in the third set but lost it, double-faulting twi
ce, before double-faulting three more times in an otherwise close, decisive tie-break. Confidence is not Elena's strong suit these days.
And back to the topic of avenging, Williams has a bitter memory of blowing 6 match points in a loss to Seles last week in Los Angeles. "If I get match point it'll be over with," promised Serena for tomorrow's rematch. "That's the bottom line."
Jennifer Capriati (1) def. Meghann Shaughnessy (9), 7-5, 6-4
Quarterfinal
Court 1
Previous head-to-head: Capriati leads 3-0
Capriati continued her career domination over the slender, smooth-stroking Shaughnessy to book her place in the final four. It was somewhat odd to see the tournament's top draw playing elsewhere than in the main stadium, but the crammed schedule willed it. "A court's a court," shrugged Capriati when asked about it after the match. Both players seemed to have sufficient energy in their second matches of the day, as Capriati and Shaughnessy had earlier taken out Wynne Prakusya and Daja Bedanova
, respectively, in straight sets.
Shaughnessy was playing an accurate baseline game, keeping Capriati on the move. But the American was showing excellent speed to run down almost everything, often replying with very sharp forehand blasts of her own. The players battled on even terms for the most part.
Late in the first set Capriati stumbled badly on her serve. She had double-fault problems in the swirling wind in both of her matches today, and this appeared to have cost her the first set when she double-faulted three times to drop her serve at 4-4. But Shaughnessy, serving for the set at 5-4, played nervously. She began feathering her serves, and Capriati jumped on them with cracking forehand returns to break serve and stay alive. Then, serving at 5-6 to force a tie-break, Shaughnessy again stagger
ed, sending a forehand way long at 15-40 to allow Capriati to take a 7-5 lead.
Shaughnessy got off to a strong start in the second set, taking a 3-1 lead. But the top seed pulled back even on the strength of some excellent cross-court forehand winners. The players stayed on serve until Shaughnessy again suffered late-set woes. Serving at 4-5 down, Meghann got into immediate difficulty after a forehand mis-hit on her part, and a second-serve return winner on Capriati's, made it 0-30. At 15-30, Capriati jumped on a very short shot to mash a forehand winner, and on her first match
point watched as Shaughnessy dumped a backhand volley in the net. Make the final: 7-5, 6-4, and a spot in the semifinal.
There is something vaguely unconvincing about Capriati this week. She was fortunate to dig out of a 5-7, 1-4 hole in the second round against Daniela Hantuchova, and was in difficulty in both of her matches today before finding an extra gear at the right time. All well and good, but Jennifer is living on the edge, and the game of Russian Roulette becomes more and more dangerous as her opponents get better. Capriati has not won a title since her French Open triumph in May, and Hantuchova intrigui
ngly suggested earlier this week that Jennifer does not seem as potent as she did earlier this year.
Capriati's will have to rebound quickly from four sets of tennis, as she will play in the afternoon semifinal. Tomorrow's semifinal adversary will be Anke Huber. The German veteran had the easiest day of any of our semifinalists, playing just one match. It was a fairly short one at that, as she eliminated Jennifer Hopkins, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, in just 67 minutes. It wasn't a smooth start for Huber in this match: the hard-hitting and aggressive Hopkins, the last qualifier remaining in the even
t (she had surprised Amanda Coetzer earlier today), took a 4-1 lead before Huber finally found the range in the swirling wind.
Jennifer Capriati (1) ? Wynne Prakusya (Q), 7-6 (7-2), 6-2
Third round
Stadium
Previous head-to-head: First meeting
Our faithful readers will know that On The Line has been following the surprising 20-year-old Indonesian Wynne Prakusya since last weekend's qualifying. Fortuitously so, since the 5'3" speedster had the best tournament of her young career to reach the third round of this Tier I tourney. We expected reality to set in today against this year's top player in front of a packed stadium court. It did. But not before Wynne had some nice moments and learned what it feels like to play one of the best on
a big stage.
Prakusya looked more than a little tight at the start of the match, missing on eight straight first serves. Still, with a little help from Capriati mistakes, the Indonesian was able to force a lengthy first game that dragged on for six deuces. Capriati finally converted on her sixth break point on a rather fortunate net cord winner. When the Australian and French Open champion broke Prakusya on a powerful backhand to take a 4-1 lead, it looked as though the massacre was on.
But Jennifer's game inexplicably collapsed at this stage, and she lost three straight games. At 4-1, she got down 15-40 after two double faults (Capriati had not lost a point on her serve until this game), and Prakusya capitalized with her best shot of the match so far, a forehand winner cross-court. The American star lost her serve again at 4-3 in a game that featured three more double faults, including one on break point. It should be said that while Jennifer was rushing and having serious serve proble
ms, both players often seemed bothered by the gusty wind that was playing havoc with their ball toss. Service breaks were the order of the day for the rest of the set ? Jennifer served twice for the set but never reached set point in either game ? and Wynne forced a tie-break by yet again breaking Capriati's serve, this on a well-placed drop shot.
As you can see, Capriati gave Prakusya no chance, recovering from her wobbly patch with a strongly played tie-break.
- WP serving: A strong Capriati return handcuffs Prakusya. 1-0 JC.
- JC: Service winner to backhand. 2-0 JC.
- JC: Capriati forehand is long. 2-1 JC.
- WP: Capriati comes in behind a forehand, Prakusya's defensive lob goes out. 3-1 JC.
- WP: Capriati's second serve return sails long. 3-2 JC.
- JC: Capriati runs down a Prakusya let cord and hits a winner cross court. 4-2 JC.
- JC: Capriati overpowers Prakusya with a series of big forehands. 5-2 JC.
- WP: Prakusya tries a risky second serve down the middle, but misses wide. 6-2 JC.
- JC: Again Capriati dominates a rally with her power, forces a short ball, and she puts it away, to claim a 7-6 (7-2) lead
It would have been a good idea at this point for Capriati to continue playing as well as the did in the tie-break, but it took a while for her to fully grasp this. The sloppiness returned. At 1-1, Jennifer lost her serve on two more double faults and two over-hit backhands. However, that was the last game the Indonesian would win. The turning point of the set came with Prakusya clinging to stay in the match, serving at 2-3, 15-30. Wynne hit an excellent cross-court forehand that looked like it would d
o the job, but Capriati turned on the speed and spanked an even harder forehand reply cross-court for a clean winner. An astonished Prakusya applauded her opponent's outstanding shot. From then on Capriati looked the like the Capriati who won two majors this year, and she rolled to a 7-6, 6-2 win.
Prakusya, who was playing an elite player for the first time in her career, was asked what was the difference between playing Jennifer and playing a lower-ranked mortal. The Indonesian embarked on a lengthy and delightful discourse that described as well as anyone could the feeling an underdog opponent has when a powerful force like Jennifer Capriati gets on a roll. This is a small portion of her reply: "I couldn't breathe. She was doing everything very quickly. Like, everything, she takes so early.
So every time I try to slow down the return, she just bangs the ball. I have one, two, maybe I can handle it. But then the third one, okay, see you!" Wynne and the three reporters present laughed heartily at the "see you!" Prakusya continued the monologue: "The ball is like going everywhere. My body is on one side and the ball is already on the other side. So that's the difference."
Prakusya has experienced her first tastes of success at a prestige tournament, and is hungry for more. "I think this is the start," she says. "I have the confidence now to go to the U.S. Open." That is, as long the draw is forgiving "I'm not a seeded player and I can meet Capriati again in the first round." Clasping her hands together and looking up to the heavens, Wynne added, "But I hope not." After New York, Wynne's year will end in Asia, as she will represent her country at the Southeast Asian Gam
es in Bali before playing several year-end tournaments in Asia.
It was a great pleasure following Wynne Prakusya's adventures this week in Toronto: On The Line thanks her for her kind co-operation and wishes her well.