Capriati Masters Spin Control

When the new-generation power game of Jennifer Capriati squared off against the old-school European backhand slice of Rita Grande, the contrast, quite frankly, appeared to send the defending champion spinning in the second set.

Grande took pace off the ball, and prolonged the rallies, taking advantage of heavy conditions created by the closing of the roof of Rod Laver Arena because of inclement weather. Her touch and tactics looked out of place today at the Australian Open, like a black-and-white TV program on cable.

For legend Billie Jean King, doing television commentary for an Australian network, it was like the appearance of an old friend. She was excited about the Italian’s creativity.

“[Capriati is] playing somebody who is playing like she was in the 1970s,” King said. “What’s going on here? Jennifer’s not used to this.”

Capriati adapted to the circumstances, showing patience and endurance. She and Grande combined for a crowd-pleasing second-set tiebreaker and the top-seeded Capriati prevailed, winning the fourth-round match, 6-3, 7-6 (9), in 1 hour 36 minutes. Grande, seeded 20th, lost it on a tough note, double faulting on match point.

It was suggested there was some luck involved and Capriati sounded slightly annoyed.

“Lucky? No, not at all,” she said. “I worked very hard for that and it was a bad ending. But I think I earned that. It could have gone either way. It wasn’t all on that point, anyway.”

Their competitiveness, combined with the 6-0, 4-6, 7-5 victory by No. 7 Amelie Mauresmo of France against German Marlene Weingartner, was of some relief to WTA officials. Earlier, Marcelo Rios of Chile criticized the women’s tour for lacking depth, and his words were prophetic Sunday when there were four one-sided fourth-round matches.

As for Rios, he seemed oblivious to the continuing controversy. It certainly did not impact his form or clever shot-making ability in a 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 victory against Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador in the fourth round. Rios, who has dropped one set in four matches, will play either No. 7 Tommy Haas of Germany or No. 11 Roger Federer of Switzerland in the quarterfinals.

Haas became the first player to take a set from Federer, winning the opener, 7-6 (3), in their closely contested fourth-round match. Federer won the second set, 6-4, and the third, 6-3. Haas forced a deciding set by taking the fourth, 6-4.

Meanwhile, the Rios remarks provoked a sharp response from Capriati.

“Even today this match proved his comments were pretty wrong, pretty ridiculous,” Capriati said.

Rios said he found support among his colleagues in the men’s locker room. He also felt that his remarks were misrepresented.

“I’m not going to start arguing about what anybody thinks,” he said. “I just said what I thought and in the locker room everybody agreed. [Amanda] Coetzer is 12th in the world and she loses, 6-0, 6-0, in 20 minutes. It is ridiculous what is going on in women’s tennis and I think everybody agrees.”

Rios said he only was critical of the lack of depth.

“I’m not saying guys are better than girls and all that,” he said. “I said I think until the quarters, girls win too easy.”

He seemed amused to be the center of attention and suggested that Venus Williams have a rematch against Karsten Braasch. In 1998 , the chain-smoking German played Venus and Serena Williams in consecutive sets here, beating Serena, 6-1, and Venus, 6-2.

“Just tell Williams to tell Karsten Braasch he can play her again, like she did three years ago,” Rios said. “He is playing a little bit better now, so she’s going to have a little trouble. Maybe 6-0 now.”

That’s the beauty of sport: another day, another match. The closeness of fourth-round matches did not extend to Justine Henin and Elena Dementieva. The sixth-seeded Henin, of Belgium, reached the Australian Open quarterfinals for the first time, defeating the 12th-seeded Russian, 6-0, 6-3. Dementieva has struggled since her breakthrough season two years ago, failing to get past the fourth round of a Grand Slam since reaching the U.S. Open semifinals in 2000.

In the quarterfinals, Henin will play either her countrywoman, No. 4 Kim Clijsters, or Janette Husarova of Slovakia. Henin vs. Clijsters would be a rematch of their French Open semifinal last year. Clijsters won after Henin led, 6-2, 4-2.

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Australian Open Matchups

WOMEN’S QUARTERFINALS

* Venus Williams (2) vs. Monica Seles (8)

* Martina Hingis (3) vs. Adriana Serra Zanetti

* Justine Henin (6) vs. Kim Clijsters (4) or Janette Husarova

* Amelie Mauresmo (7) vs. Jennifer Capriati (1)

MEN’S QUARTERFINALS

* Thomas Johansson (16) vs. Jonas Bjorkman

* Stefan Koubek vs. Jiri Novak (26)

* Marcelo Rios vs. Tommy Haas (7) or Roger Federer (11)

* Albert Costa or Wayne Ferreira vs. Marat Safin (9) or Pete Sampras (8)