Friday August 9, 2002
JP Morgan Chase Open in Los Angeles
by Barry Wood + other article
MANHATTAN BEACH, California (Reuters) - Jennifer
Capriati was forced to go the distance to reach the quarter-finals of the
Los Angeles Open Thursday. Capriati was kept on court for two hours eight
minutes before securing a 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 6-2 win over Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn.
Capriati appeared to be firmly in control when she took the first set and
led 3-0 in the second, but Tanasugarn refused to give up the battle. Mixing
up her shots and keeping second seeded Capriati on the move, the 16th seed
also benefited from 11 double-faults from her opponent in the second set.
The Australian Open champion double-faulted three times on break point in
that set, and failed to close out the match after serving for victory at 5-4
and 6-5. The battle remained close in the final set, until Capriati claimed
the last three games.
"I played great in the first set, but lately playing at night has been
really bothering me," Capriati said. "Maybe I started rushing a bit (as it
got dark) and got thrown off.
"I go through these phases and get tentative and can't find the right rhythm.
"In the third set I just concentrated and said get it in, no matter what."
Capriati blamed the problem with playing under lights on laser eye surgery.
It was fine for two years, but now she has a problem.
"Maybe I just started rushing a bit. I got thrown off a bit as soon as
it was getting dark,'' she said. "I have problems playing at night. I
was shanking on my groundstrokes.''
"I have a bit of a halo and they say that sometimes after a while lights can
start to become really bright," she explained.
Capriati will face doubles specialist Ai Sugiyama for a place in the semi-finals
after the Japanese player beat South Africa's Amanda Coetzer 6-1 7-6.
CAPRIATI STRUGGLES TO THREE-SET WIN IN LA
In the featured evening match, second-seeded Jennifer Capriati was forced
to the only three-set singles match of the day before winning 6-3, 6-7 (7-3),
6-2 over No. 16 Tamarine Tanasugarn.
Capriati recorded nine service breaks, including four in the decisive set,
to improve to 3-0 lifetime against Tanasugarn. Capriati was up two breaks
in the second set before Tanasugarn took advantage of a horde of Capriati
unforced errors to pull even at 5-5. The two proceeded to break each other's
serve and the second set entered a tiebreak. With four unanswered errors,
Capriati lost the tiebreak 7-3.
"She's a little bit annoying to play because you never know what she's
going to hit," Capriati said. "She hits the ball so flat and she can angle
the ball. ... Tough playing her because you have to do a lot of running besides
that."
After taking the first set, Capriati raced to a 3-1 lead in the second. But
she had trouble adjusting to the fading light at the Manhattan Country Club.
Capriati said it wasn't a coincidence that she played better in the first
set while the sun was out. She had LASIK eye surgery two years ago and she's
seeing one of the side effects of the procedure in recent months -- seeing
halos at night.
"It's frustrating because I don't know what's going on," Capriati said.
"I have to say I have problems playing at night. The lights were bothering
me, so it was kind of negative and getting worse. By the end of the third
set, I got used to it a little bit and concentrated."
She did regroup in the third set and finally took advantage of a weak Tanasugarn
serve to put the match away in 2:09.
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