Capriati Goes Home, Agassi Stays a While

NEW YORK —  Her powerful groundstrokes and uncanny ability to hit her way out of trouble did not suddenly vanish into thin air.

Certainly, Jennifer Capriati’s game has not fundamentally changed since winning her last tournament, the Australian Open, in January. Other players, however, have transformed themselves.

And therein lies Capriati’s problem. She can’t out-hit Venus and Serena Williams in 2002, not the way she did against Martina Hingis, Monica Seles and Lindsay Davenport last year.

You can add Amelie Mauresmo to her list of problems. The 10th-seeded Mauresmo of France beat No. 3 Capriati, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3, in a 2-hour, 18-minute quarterfinal at the U.S. Open on Wednesday. Capriati served for the match at 6-5 in the second set.

For Mauresmo, it was her third consecutive victory against Capriati this year, and two have been in Grand Slam events, the Open and the Wimbledon quarterfinals.

She will play two-time defending champion and No. 2 Venus Williams in the semifinals Friday.

Capriati insisted that some of the pressure is self-imposed now that she is expected to be around in the later rounds, a contrast to the early days of her comeback.

“Well, this has kind of been a new pressure that I’ve felt, coming off being No. 1 and having a great run,” she said. “So, I mean, human beings are the only ones that go over and over and do the same mistakes.”

Yes, such as always rushing, whether it’s between points or looking ahead to the next round. Mauresmo sensed Capriati’s impatience and was savvy in slowing play between points and changing the pace during their rallies.

“She likes to play with a lot of pace and the same height,” Mauresmo said. “When you slice a little bit and you put some topspin, maybe she’s not used to that because on the tour not so many players play like this. I know what she doesn’t like too much. I try to do that.”

Under hot, humid conditions, the first men’s semifinal was set when defending champion and No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt of Australia defeated Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco, 6-1, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-2, in the quarterfinals.

Hewitt will play No. 6 Andre Agassi, who had an unexpectedly difficult test against Max Mirnyi of Belarus, winning, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-5, 6-3. They played almost six weeks ago at UCLA, and Agassi had little trouble, dropping just six games against him in the semifinals. Here, Agassi survived Mirnyi’s tough serve-and-volley game, converting six-of-17 break points. Mirnyi, who reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal, had 19 aces and double faulted seven times.

“Overall, he’s a tough player, and I had to play well tonight,” said Agassi, who has lost only one set in five matches. “In Los Angeles once I started seeing the ball well, he pressured a little bit and double faulted a few times. Tonight, I felt like he served bigger and volleyed very soundly, dug out some incredible volleys.”

The first time Agassi played Hewitt was in 1998 at Adelaide when the Australian was 16 years old.

“I remember he was wearing a safety pin in his shorts to hold them up,” Agassi said, joking. “I’m not kidding, I actually think it was one on each side. I didn’t know what he looked like. I didn’t believe that that was my opponent. He seemed like he had a couple of strings hanging in his shoes. He was just very young, went out there and ended up playing a great match.”

Their marathon contest followed the final women’s quarterfinal between Venus Williams and two-time champion Seles. There was something of a bittersweet quality to the match. The second-seeded Williams lost just one point on her serve in the first set, defeating No. 6 Seles, 6-2, 6-3, in 57 minutes. Seles left Arthur Ashe Stadium with a small wave, leaving spectators wondering whether she would return in 2003.

Though the 28-year-old Seles, who has not reached a Grand Slam final since the 1998 French Open, has been fielding retirement questions for the last couple of years, speculation seemed to hit a new level in New York.

“She was better than I was in every department tonight,” said Seles, who had just one break-point opportunity.

“I think the match tells it all. She served too well. I really couldn’t read it at all.”

Williams sounded as though she was fighting a cold, as well as her irritation over the fourth-round struggle against Chanda Rubin on Tuesday.

“I was just trying to get away from my last match,” she said.

“I didn’t want to watch any tennis or think about any other player except for me. I had leads and opportunities and I don’t like to play like this, especially at a Grand Slam, especially in the later rounds and especially against a good player.

“I thought it was a little bit unfortunate that I had to get so close to being out of the tournament.”

*

Sixth-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan had one of their biggest wins in men’s doubles, defeating No. 1 Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and Daniel Nestor of Canada, 6-3, 7-6 (5), in the quarterfinals. Knowles and Nestor, champions at the Australian and French Opens this year, beat the Bryans in three sets at Wimbledon in the semifinals.