The magic touch that saw Meghann Shaughnessy surprise three time champion Venus Williams in the fourth round deserted her as Jennifer Capriati moved into the semifinals of the Nasdaq-100 Open.
Shaughnessy, who impressed in her straight sets upset of the second-seeded world number two on Monday, lost 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 to fellow American Capriati in a quarterfinal blighted by errors.
Capriati made 41 unforced errors in a tame victory that saw the number six seed drop only her second set in seven meetings with Shaughnessy, who made 48 during the two hours 34 minutes of a match that took until the sixth game to finally get going.
The best moments came in a series of lengthy rallies late in the first set and in particular in the ninth game, which saw Capriati, the runner-up in the last two years, save four set points and finally hold serve after seven deuces.
Shaughnessy sent down a number of unbeatable first serves but struggled on her second, allowing Capriati a foothold back into the match before stepping up the pace in the final set.
The highlights were outweighed by the errors.
Both players regularly sent returns long, wide or into the net and in the second-set tiebreak they missed easy volleys into an open court that would have given each a mini-break.
"I didn't get tired and maybe she did," Capriati said. "I was able to break early in the final set, stay aggressive, move around and mix up my shots.
"She's a scrapper, and she served amazingly but never consistently.
"I was thinking at the end of the first set that the match wasn't over. I started serving better and I just knew the second set would be closer."
Men's draw
Fifth seed Carlos Moya wore his lucky sleeveless shirt again to end the winning run of American wild card Robby Ginepri in a thrilling three-set quarterfinal on Wednesday.
The Spaniard won 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 after a searching examination from the 20-year-old Ginepri, who left the US$3.25 million hardcourt tournament with the consolation of a place in the world's top 50.
Moya has become a fashion icon here with his blue and white vest, and said he would wear it again in his semifinal against Todd Martin or Paradorn Srichaphan.
"I haven't lost yet wearing it and, as long as it gives me luck, I'm going to keep wearing it," he told reporters.
The match against Ginepri, who also reached the last eight at Indian Wells earlier this month, was a see-saw battle between two of the tournament's hardest hitters.
Moya dropped the first set after leading 4-1, and also going 5-2 up in the tiebreak. But he hit back to break Ginepri's serve in the second game of the second set.
The decider went with serve until the tiebreak. Ginepri forced three mini-breaks in the tiebreak to lead 4-2, the only time there was more than a point in it until Moya's spectacular overhead volley set up two match points at 6-4.
He needed only one, with Ginepri returning a fierce forehand into the net.
Moya said, "It was a tough match and I made it even more complicated because I should have won that first set.
"I was 4-1, double-break up, a 99 percent chance of winning the set.
"I didn't play my best match here but I kept fighting and gave it my all and it paid off."
Ginepri beat two seeds, Alex Corretja and James Blake, on his way to the last eight and was attempting to become the first wild card since Jimmy Connors in 1987 to reach the semifinals.
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