As Expected, Capriati Makes It Look Easy

The Jennifer Capriati bandwagon rolled into the French Open, where the spectators at Court One included the legend this 14-year-old is supposed to replace.

Chris Evert was there Tuesday morning, peering through midnight-black glasses at her anointed successor in the role of America’s tennis sweetheart.

After Capriati’s 6-1, 6-1 first-round victory over 18-year-old French wild-card entrant Sandrine Testud, Evert had a glimpse of something else.

“I can see Jennifer in the semifinals,” Evert said.

She ought to know, of course. Evert, 34, was in the semifinals 12 times on her way to winning seven French Open titles. But, barring upsets, if Capriati is to reach the semifinals in her first Grand Slam tournament, she will have to defeat third-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, the defending champion.

And if Capriati reaches the semifinals, she is projected to face Monica Seles, whose French Open a year ago was her first Grand Slam event.

Seeded behind Steffi Graf, Seles pitched a 6-0, 6-0 first-round shutout against Katia Piccolini of Italy.

It took Capriati five minutes to win her first game, 24 minutes to win her first set and 55 minutes to win her first match.

“This is it, I’m finally here, I’m just so excited to play my first Grand Slam match,” Capriati said. “I wasn’t really nervous, I was more like excited-nervous to be out there.”

Before arriving here, Capriati played an exhibition in Marbella, Spain, and also visited the courts at Playa del Mar, where her parents introduced her to tennis at 3.

Capriati’s reaction: “It was really cool.”

She is also pretty excited about spending some time in this city.

“In school, I studied Paris,” Capriati said. “It has history and the Eiffel Tower, it’s a very famous landmark which I’m going to go to. I’m right next to the Arc de Triomphe, which is a very nice area.”

So is the French Open semifinal round, but there is a long way to go before Capriati can prove Evert right.

Capriati’s first-round victory was “routine,” Evert said. “But you shouldn’t expect anything else from Jennifer.”

With that, Evert left Court One, Capriati’s first court, but where Evert played the last match of her French Open career when she lost to Sanchez Vicario in the third round in 1988.