TENNIS ROUNDUP : Capriati Gets New Contact Lenses, New Coach

The game won’t look the same to Jennifer Capriati.

Friday, the 15-year-old put on a new pair of contact lenses before defeating seventh-seeded Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere of Bulgaria, 6-3, 6-2, in the $350,000 Virginia Slims of Philadelphia.

Then Capriati announced that Pavel Slozil will start coaching her before the Australian Open in January. Earlier this week, Slozil and Steffi Graf parted company after five years. Capriati recently split with coach Tom Gullikson.

Joining fourth-seeded Capriati in the semifinals at Philadelphia were No. 1 Monica Seles, who beat No. 8 Zina Garrison, 7-6 (8-6), 6-0, and No. 3 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain, who defeated Brenda Schultz of the Netherlands, 6-7 (7-4), 6-1, 6-4.

Capriati, who plays Sabatini today, knew her eyesight needed help.

“I always noticed I couldn’t see, especially nights, when I was under the lights. Everything was blurry. I kept saying it, but no one believed me,” said Capriati, who wore new glasses to her post-match interview.

“But then I failed my (driver’s) permit test and I got my eyes checked. Now, I can see the other player’s face,” she said.

Defending champion Andre Agassi, top-seeded Jim Courier and Pete Sampras joined Ivan Lendl in the semifinals of the ATP Tour World Championships.

The seventh-seeded Agassi, needing to beat Germany’s Michael Stich to advance, won, 7-5, 6-3.

“I played extremely well. If I play as well the rest of the weekend the others will really have to earn their money,” Agassi said.

Courier advanced by beating Guy Forget of France, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. Sampras qualified despite losing, 6-4, 6-7 (7-3), 6-1, to Boris Becker, who served 17 aces.

Said Sampras: “I knew going in that if I won a set I’d be in, but it wasn’t really on my mind. I tried to play my best. It’s too confusing for me to figure out the mathematics.”

Becker said he also knew that he had to win in two sets to make sure of advancing.

Audra Keller reached the final of a $150,000 tournament at Indianapolis with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over fourth-seeded Radka Zrubakova of Czechoslovakia.