Capriati Floats Undetected Into Final Against Venus

Accidental beneficiary of the Williams Watch, Jennifer Capriati has been able to hit her groundstrokes under the radar, navigating through the Ericsson Open draw with relative ease.

Logically, her presence would attract scrutiny because this is her first tournament in South Florida--her home base as a youngster--since winning the Australian Open in January. But her father, Stefano, isn’t holding impromptu news conferences on a daily basis, and Capriati can throw in a reference to “tough times” without reliving her troubled past for the 1,000th time.

If the last week of this event has been like a wild roller-coaster ride, the journey turned almost tranquil on Friday, as Andre Agassi, followed by Capriati, restored some semblance of order.

Agassi, whose quarterfinal against lucky loser Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia was interrupted by violent thunderstorms Thursday night, resumed play trailing, 1-3. Ljubicic won his serve to lead, 4-1, but Agassi picked it up, winning five consecutive games and ultimately prevailing, 6-4, 6-4.

He will play Patrick Rafter of Australia today in the semifinals. In a semifinal Friday, Jan-Michael Gambill defeated Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, 7-5, 6-4. Agassi and Rafter will follow the women’s final between Capriati and Venus Williams.

Capriati had little difficulty against Russian teenager Elena Dementieva in the semifinals, winning, 6-2, 6-0, in 62 minutes. She won the final 10 games, forcing errors from Dementieva, who could not match Capriati’s furious pace.

“I think it looked easier than it was,” Capriati said.

Though she and Venus Williams were highly-hyped prodigies--both were coached by Rick Macci in Florida--they don’t have much of an on-court history. Williams won their only meeting, four years ago, at this event. For Capriati, that was amid one of her many comebacks.

Four years between then and now, Capriati feels as though this is her first match against Williams.

“I am just going to play my game,” she said. “And I am not going to think, ‘Oh, she is like this goddess or something,’ you know, that everyone makes her seem that way. We will just have to see when I go out there. I just have the confidence and she is just another player on the other side. I am not going to have any fear.”

Since the Australian Open, Capriati lost in the final at Oklahoma City to Monica Seles in three sets in February, then went out the next week to Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals at Scottsdale, Ariz.

Williams’ title drought has been a bit longer. She has not won an event since the Sydney Olympics, a bit deceptive because of her light schedule. Neither Capriati nor Williams has lost a set in this tournament. An injured Serena Williams was one of Capriati’s victims, in the quarterfinals, and Capriati is trying to become just the fourth player to defeat Serena and Venus in the same event.

The others are Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Steffi Graf and Martina Hingis, who did it at the Australian Open in January.

“I am playing the greatest I have ever played,” said Capriati, who turned 25 on Thursday. “This is the best tennis I have played certainly in a while. Each match I just get stronger and just gain more confidence . . .

“Everything is working for me. I feel like I have a real all-around game and I do feel like I can beat anybody.”

And Serena and Venus in the same tournament?

“I just basically look at Venus as being just another player,” she said. “I am not thinking, ‘Oh, it’s another sister, another Williams.’ It’s just another player, another opponent to me.”