Amelie Mauresmo is turning into a real nemesis for Jennifer Capriati.
The Frenchwoman's 6-3, 7-6 (10) victory against Capriati in the quarterfinals of the Italian Open on Friday was Mauresmo's fourth straight win in the career-long series between the two players.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Mauresmo's previous victory came in three sets at the US Open quarterfinals in September. Earlier last summer, Mauresmo came out on top against Capriati in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. She also won a title in Montreal last year by beating the American in the final.
On Friday, Mauresmo saved four set points in the second-set before eliminating the fifth-seeded Capriati.
The fourth-seeded Mauresmo will next face top-ranked and defending champion Serena Williams, who defeated Conchita Martinez 7-5, 6-2. Second-seeded Kim Clijsters and Ai Sugiyama (No. 13) of Japan, who play doubles together, will meet in the other half of the draw.
Mauresmo closed out the match on her fourth match point in this US$1.3 million clay-court tuneup for the French Open, which starts May 26.
"In the US Open I was serving for the match," Capriati said. "I've just got to do more on those opportunities and not let her dictate. I tried today, but she got off to a better start.
"I definitely could have done things a little bit differently -- been more aggressive, which worked for me a couple times in the match, going to the net, stepping up to the ball."
Capriati's last victory in the rivalry was a three-setter in the quarterfinals here a year ago.
On Friday, Capriati benefited from two errors and a net-cord winner to save Mauresmo's first three match points. On the fourth -- Mauresmo's first while serving -- Capriati hit a forehand long.
"It was very close," Mauresmo said. "Very tough points in that tiebreak -- long points, long rallies."
Capriati seemed to grow annoyed by her inability to control the play. Her displeasure became apparent in confrontations with a fan whose cell phone rang during play -- which ultimately resulted in a language warning to Capriati from the chair umpire -- and a TV cameraman positioned in front of her on a changeover.
"There was a lot of tension in the match," Capriati said. ``I got myself fired up and angry so I would try to play with more force."
Mauresmo also noticed Capriati's change in demeanor.
"At some point she was a little pissed off," Mauresmo said. "But I think she does that very often, and I'm not sure it's getting her concentration somewhere else.
"I just try to stay in there even though sometimes I was set point down, and it worked out for me today."
The match was played in cool and mostly cloudy conditions, along with a slight drizzle for the last few games.
Mauresmo also reached the semifinals in Berlin last week, losing to eventual champion Justine Henin-Hardenne. A week earlier, she won her first tournament of the year in Warsaw.
In the semifinals, Mauresmo will encounter the hottest player on tour.
Williams improved to 26-1 this season with her victory against Martinez, who won the Italian Open four consecutive times between 1993 and 1996.
With the sun back out at Foro Italico, Williams's power game overwhelmed Martinez's consistency. The American improved to 5-0 in head-to-head matchups against Martinez.
The Spanish veteran stayed with Williams until 5-5 in the first set. Williams then broke serve and closed out the set with two aces. In the second set, Williams dominated.
In the night match, Clijsters eliminated eighth-seeded Russian Anastasia Myskina 6-2, 6-2 in 56 minutes for her third straight rout in three days.
In the Belgian's three matches thus far, Clijsters has lost a total of eight games.
Sugiyama reached the semifinals with a 6-1, 6-3 victory against Slovak qualifier Tina Pisnik.
In doubles, 46-year-old Martina Navratilova and 17-year-old Svetlana Kuznetsova earned a semifinal berth by defeating Liezel Huber and Magdalena Maleeva 7-6 (6), 6-1.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
A soccer jersey carrying a national map including disputed Western Sahara has become a hot commodity in Morocco after a diplomatic dispute with Algeria. Retailers said RS Berkane jerseys have been flying off the shelves after a Confederation of African Football (CAF) Cup match against Algerian club USM Alger was canceled last month over the jerseys. “We are overwhelmed by the influx of messages and requests,” said Brahim Rabii, representative of the official RS Berkane jersey distributor. Algeria broke off diplomatic relations with Morocco in 2021, partly over the issue of Western Sahara. The former Spanish colony is largely controlled by Morocco, but claimed