Surprise, Surprise: Capriati v. Hingis

For Jennifer Capriati, the troubled past melted away under the hot Australian sun today as the great promise of a decade ago was finally realized. At 24, the 12th-seeded Capriati will be playing in her first Grand Slam final, long after her supposed expiration date as a star player.

Not often does the symbol of a cautionary tale get a chance to edit the ending.

Amazingly, the hard-hitting American woman in the Australian Open final isn’t named Lindsay, Serena or Venus.

But Capriati’s straightforward 6-3, 6-4 dismissal of defending champion and second-seeded Lindsay Davenport wasn’t the lone startling development in Rod Laver Arena. In the second semifinal, top-seeded Martina Hingis needed less than an hour to force Venus Williams’ exit from the tournament, winning, 6-1, 6-1.

It is the first time Hingis has defeated sisters Venus and Serena Williams in the same event. No one had ever advanced past both in a Grand Slam. Only two players have accomplished it outside of a Grand Slam tournament, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in 1998 and Steffi Graf in 1999, both in the Sydney event.

Hingis nearly went out against Serena in the quarterfinals, erasing a 4-1 third-set deficit and winning, 8-6, in the deciding set. Her victory against Venus could not have been more different. The third-seeded Venus appeared drained--as she herself survived a three-set marathon in the quarterfinals.

Williams committed 38 unforced errors to eight for Hingis and double-faulted six times. Hingis did not double fault once and broke Williams’ serve six times.

“I wasn’t moving as well as I did against Serena, but many times I was in the right spot,” Hingis said.

“I put it all together. The more you make them play, the more chances you’ll make them miss. I’m not going to overpower them. I just have to wait for my chances.”

Said Williams: “It just seems I wasn’t really prepared to hit as many balls as possible.”

So, in a sense, this has been an Australian Open for smaller players. Two of the men’s semifinalists--Sebastien Grosjean and Arnaud Clement--are under 5 feet 9, and the big hard-hitters like Davenport and the Williamses were supposed to have made Hingis a relic in this era of power.

If Hingis was going to do it, this was considered to be her best opportunity. Venus came here with spotty preparation, having played only one doubles match in 2001. Hingis has not won a Grand Slam event since winning here two years ago, and had not defeated Williams since late 1999. This was her most one-sided victory over Williams.

“She beat me before, 6-1, 6-2, when I was like a baby, my first year on the tour,” Williams said. “A lot of times [today] I would be there and I’d just miss a shot, just giving it back to her. That’s something you can’t do, especially in a Grand Slam semifinal.”

Said Hingis: “Sometimes players underestimate this tournament. They take it as a warm up. Not me, I go forward.”

Even Hingis, who likes to do her best to predict outcomes, was taken by surprise by the Davenport result. Davenport had 43 unforced errors, alternating between hitting outright winners or smacking the ball long or wide.

Hingis beat her in the final at Sydney, and Davenport never looked comfortable in Australia.

“It’s hard to do,” Davenport said of defending a Grand Slam title. “I’ve got three. I thought I had a good opportunity to defend it again. I wasn’t playing that well, then picked up my game the last few matches.”

Capriati, who had lost her last five matches against Davenport, looked determined throughout and only wavered on her first match point in the 10th game of the second set, double-faulting. She won it one point later when Davenport netted a forehand.

“This is the best I’ve ever played, especially being in the semifinals of a Grand Slam,” Capriati said. “I was real proud of myself for not letting the moment get to me and just being able to still focus and concentrate and play my game.”

At 14, Capriati was considered far ahead of her time, a talented prodigy who reached the French Open semifinals in her first Grand Slam event in 1990. After the heartbreaking three-set loss to Monica Seles in the 1991 U.S. Open semifinals, she was never quite the same. Years later, there was her arrest for shoplifting and her brief flirtation with drugs.

When Jennifer was 14, her father and coach, Stefano Capriati was there for the highlights. Now, after many thought it too late, he was proudly clapping in the stands.

“Of course those thoughts would go through my mind when the going got really tough,” Capriati said. “I could have given up a long time ago. I just thought I got to that point, so why give up?”

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KAFELNIKOV OUT IN FRENCH TWIST

Arnaud Clement’s upset of No. 5 Yevgeny Kafelnikov guaranteed there will be a French finalist. D11