TENNIS : FRENCH OPEN : Veteran Capriati Rolls Into Third Round

Was it merely a year ago that wide-eyed, 14-year-old Jennifer Capriati wondered where the football field was at Notre Dame, referred to Napoleon as “that little dead dude” and reached the semifinals of the French Open?

Last year, Capriati stormed Paris as they did at that old Bastille place. She hummed rap “tunes,” shopped along the Champs Elysees while accompanied by camera crews and rolled through the world’s premier clay court tennis tournament like a runaway skateboard.

A gritty, veteran 15-year-old Thursday moved smoothly into the third round of the French Open, the scene of her Grand Slam debut last May. Capriati bumped off Andrea Temesvari, 6-2, 6-1, in 55 minutes to keep alive a potential quarterfinal date with another prolific shopper, Monica Seles.

Maybe Capriati and Seles should meet instead in some Parisian shop and see whose credit card melts first.

Actually, Capriati is just as happy that the spotlight here this year is trained on Seles, Steffi Graf and Gabriela Sabatini--anybody but her.

“It’s a lot of relief off me,” Capriati said, twirling her hair as she met the media in her postmatch interview. “Because, you know, the focus is more, uh, you know, there’s more going on, you know, than just on me, you know.”

We know now. Capriati, seeded 10th, led a charge of seeded women into the third round with convincing straight-set victories. The group included top-seeded Seles, who beat 20-year-old South African Mariaan De Swardt, 6-0, 6-2.

The third-seeded Sabatini dusted off Emanuela Zardo, 6-1, 6-1, and advanced along with sixth-seeded Jana Novotna and seventh-seeded Conchita Martinez, who eased past Stephanie Rehe, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3).

Meanwhile, the Capriati show continued with a great deal less fanfare than was showered on her here a year ago. In fact, after consecutive crush jobs in Capriati’s two opening matches, the most compelling story emerging from her week in Paris is how she lost her passport.

Her passport and dad Stefano’s passport were in the elder Capriati’s bag, which he apparently left unattended for a few moments as they went jogging in a park. When Stefano checked his bag that night, the passports were missing. “I did get a new one, though,” Jennifer said.

Other than that, there have been no losses charged to Capriati. Before she gets a chance at Seles, Capriati must get past Maya Kidowaki in the third round and either Martinez or Carrie Cunningham in the fourth round.

But whatever happens, Capriati says that she is going to be able to spend her time here, at least for a while, as part of the chorus.

“You know, I feel I’m playing pretty good,” Capriati said. “I really don’t feel like there’s a lot of pressure on me, so it’s a little easier. I’m just happy to be here.”

As for any extension of off-court activities relative to her continuing education, Capriati said she might well repeat what she did a year ago when she wrote a paper for a ninth-grade social studies class.

“I saw a lot of things last year, maybe I will go see them again,” she said. “Maybe I’d want to do other things. Go to movies? I’ve seen a lot of movies here.”

From 3-1 in the first set, Pete Sampras dropped 10 consecutive games and his second-round match to Thierry Champion, 6-3, 6-1, 6-1.

Sampras, seeded sixth, said he was affected by Tuesday’s five-set victory over Thomas Muster. “I felt kind of sluggish and tired,” Sampras said. “It takes a while for the body to adjust.”

Champion, ranked No. 76 but a quarterfinalist here a year ago as a wild-card entrant, confused Sampras by returning serves with looping topspin, and Sampras was unsure when to attack.

The U.S. Open champion, who plans to play an exhibition match next week at Beckenham, England, to prepare for Wimbledon, said he will return here in as many years as he can.

“I’ll never be the favorite here, but I think I can be a factor sometime . . . although you’d never know it by the way I played today.”

Tennis Notes

Pete Sampras was the only seeded player to lose Thursday, although three-time French Open champion Mats Wilander, having recently completed a 16-city Swedish tour with his rock band, Wilander, was strummed by Fabrice Santoro, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2, and then fined $2,000 for refusing to attend a postmatch press conference.

Top-seeded Stefan Edberg experienced brief trouble with his back and with Horst Skoff but advanced to a third-round showdown against Andrei Chesnokov with a 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 decision.