Capriati Exits in Fourth Round, Falling to No. 7-Seeded Martinez

Jennifer Capriati, who lost her passport last week and had to get a new one, can start using it. A French Open semifinalist last year at 14, Capriati was a fourth-round loser as a 15-year-old Sunday to seventh-seeded Conchita Martinez, 6-3, 6-3.

Martinez, 19, a clay-court specialist from Barcelona, kept 10th-seeded Capriati pinned to the baseline chasing down looping groundstrokes dripping with topspin.

Capriati trailed, 0-5, in the second set, saved two match points and rallied briefly but too late to change the outcome.

“I guess today was not a good day and unfortunately it came against a good player,” said Capriati, close to tears during her postmatch press conference. “It’s not the end of the world. There’s always next time.”

And for a brief moment, it seemed as if there would be no next round for top-seeded Monica Seles, who weathered an early challenge by Sandra Cecchini before coming back to win, 3-6, 6-3, 6-0.

Seles won 12 of the last 13 games after Cecchini had taken a 2-0 lead in the second set.

Neither Steffi Graf, Gabriela Sabatini, Mary Joe Fernandez nor Arantxa Sanchez Vicario experienced the same difficulties of Seles, who became the first of her peer group of top players to drop a set.

Seles faces Martinez in the quarterfinals.

Graf wasted no time (56 minutes) in canning Sabine Appelmans, 6-2, 6-2, and Sabatini defeated Rachael McQuillan, 6-3, 6-0. Fernandez needed a tiebreaker to finish off Elna Reinach, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2), and set up a quarterfinal meeting with Sanchez Vicario, a 6-2, 6-1, winner over Tami Whitlinger.

Graf will meet Nathalie Tauziat, who won a 3-hour 1-minute marathon against 18-year-old Japanese Naoko Sawamatsu, 7-5, 2-6, 12-10.

Sabatini’s quarterfinal opponent is Jana Novotna, who beat Leila Meskhi, 6-0, 7-6 (9-7).