Davenport, Capriati to Provide U.S. Presence in Quarterfinals

There was a nice two-step for American women’s tennis today at the Australian Open. Lindsay Davenport found herself in a place she is supposed to be, and Jennifer Capriati found herself in a place she hasn’t been in a long time.

On a cool and sunny day, with the roof open at Rod Laver Arena, Davenport and Capriati advanced to the quarterfinals. Davenport defeated Anna Kournikova, 6-4, 6-3, and Capriati beat Patty Schnyder, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.

Davenport is the No. 2-ranked player in the world, and is expected to be around for the second week of major tournaments. The last time she wasn’t in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event was when she went out in the second round of Wimbledon in 1997.

The last time Capriati was in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event was at Wimbledon in 1993. What happened to her after that is an oft-told story of a tennis prodigy, going on the tour at age 13 and earning the family living, then rebelling at the thought of teenage years without any teenage experiences.

She walked off the court at the U.S. Open in 1993, having lost to a journeyman player from Russia named Leila Meskhi in the first round, and wasn’t seen again on the same level of play until late last year. Her ranking, which was as high as No. 6 in 1991, is back up to No. 21 and will improve after this event.

The solid, aggressive manner with which she hit the ball and handled Schnyder, a left-hander from Switzerland, gave every indication that Capriati will be a force for the next few years.

Her coach, Harold Solomon, said that Capriati, now 23, has made her most important developmental strides mentally.

“She has worked hard, really dedicated herself to getting back to this level, since about last March,” he said. “And when you work hard, you start to think that you deserve to win. If you get yourself into three sets, you know you can go the distance.”

Solomon said that one of the most important people in that development is Karen Burnett, a trainer who has worked on everything from Capriati’s physical conditioning to monitoring what she eats.

“She has her working on something different every day,” Solomon said. “One day it is kick boxing, the next weights and the next jump ropes.

“The key to what is happening to Jennifer now is that her development off the court is affecting her play on it.”

Capriati’s impression of her return to this plateau? “It’s a great sense of satisfaction,” she said.

About the time Capriati was disappearing from tennis, Davenport, who is only three months younger, was appearing and rising quickly. She made it to the fourth round of that ’93 U.S. Open, then went to the quarterfinals of the Australian four months later. While Capriati was focusing on tennis, Davenport was being a teenager. Just before heading for Wimbledon in ‘94, she attended her graduation from Murrieta Valley High, then turned her sights on the tour full-time.

She went to No. 1 in the world for parts of late ’98 and early ’99 and has won two Grand Slam events, the ’98 U.S. Open and Wimbledon last year.

Her win today over Kournikova, the 18-year-old Russian who plays the game of being glamorous much better than she plays the game of tennis, was a classic example of a veteran player exploiting weaknesses.

“She can be brilliant, and she can make lots of errors,” Davenport said. “Before I went out today, Robert [Van’t Hof, her coach] told me that, even if I got behind on my serve, 40-love, to hang in there and keep playing points, because Anna can make errors in bunches.”

Davenport, who will face Capriati in the semifinals if each wins one more match, deemed herself pleased with the day’s work.

“This was the first time since I got here,” she said, “that I felt, oh yes, I can win this tournament.”

Davenport’s quarterfinal opponent will be No. 9-seeded Julie Halard-Decugis, who won when Jana Kandarr of Germany defaulted midway through the second set. Capriati will play the winner of the Mary Pierce-Al Sugiyama match scheduled for later today.

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One of the more compelling struggles of the windy, rainy-day Saturday was the 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory by veteran French player Sandrine Testud, pushing her into a round-of-16 match with Martina Hingis. Testud beat Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand in a match that took 2 hours 22 minutes on the court and a couple more hours of rain-delay time off it.

Testud finally advanced on her third match point after surviving three against her in the second set.

Testud, who will be 28 in April, was not among the tour’s elite players until 1998. That year started with her quarterfinal finish here. She is now No. 14 in the world. When asked midway through her big run into the forefront of women’s tennis what had caused this sudden success, she smiled and said, “I’m in love.” On June 13, 1998, she married Vittorio Magnelli, her coach then and now.

Tanasugarn, 22, has duel citizenship. She was born in Los Angeles, where her parents operated a Hollywood Boulevard restaurant called The Thai House. She spent most of her time in Thailand after age 5, but also went to schools off and on in Los Angeles. She carried the flag of Thailand in opening ceremonies at the Olympics in Atlanta and was voted the Female Athlete of the Year in Thailand in 1996.

Tennis Notes

The Lleyton Hewitt streak continued late Saturday night. Playing the last match, the 18-year-old Australian won his 13th match in a row, taking out Adrian Voinea of Romania in straight sets. Hewitt won titles in two warmup tournaments in Australia the first two weeks of the year, and now faces his toughest test to date, No. 12-seeded Magnus Norman of Sweden. . . . Roger Federer of Switzerland, who eliminated Michael Chang in the first round, made 77 unforced errors in a 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 third-round loss to Arnaud Clement of France.