Rubin Jumps at a Chance

Assist, Venus Williams.

Chanda Rubin needed a bit of extra help to reach Los Angeles for the tour finale, and she got it in the form of her colleague, Venus Williams, who withdrew from the event over the weekend because of a chronic abdominal strain. Her absence enabled Rubin to grab the last spot in the season-ending Bank of America WTA Tour Championships.

And so, the last player in was the first to win here.

Rubin, down a set and a service break, rallied to defeat Amelie Mauresmo of France, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, in 2 hours 7 minutes at Staples Center on Wednesday night. Though it appeared there were about 2,000 spectators on hand for that first match in round-robin play, officials announced the crowd as 5,281.

Attendance had been a significant issue last year, which was the first time this event had been played at Staples Center. Tiny gatherings, especially in the first few days during the afternoon, led to a format change and the elimination of the split sessions, leaving only the night play.

The tournament was missing two other major draws in addition to Venus Williams -- her younger sister Serena and Lindsay Davenport -- which leaves Jennifer Capriati as one of the few marquee names in the eight-player singles field. She reached the semifinals last year, losing to Serena Williams in three sets in what was one of the best matches of 2002.

Organizers received a brief scare when Capriati had to leave the court to receive treatment early in the second set against Ai Sugiyama of Japan. After the third game, Capriati summoned the trainer and left for a few minutes. When Capriati returned, she had her upper right thigh wrapped and tour representatives said she was suffering from a strained right hip.

Capriati was leading, 7-5, 2-1, when she needed the medical attention, but managed to prevail, 7-5, 7-6 (3). In the late match, defending champion Kim Clijsters of Belgium defeated Elena Dementieva of Russia, 6-2, 6-2.

Capriati, who fought off four set points in the second set, said she might have suffered the injury Wednesday morning in practice. Of the match, she said: “I really had to fight till the end because she is always there.”

Capriati’s schedule has been lighter and may have been a factor in regard to the injury.

“I haven’t been playing indoors and [the hip] is one of my weak points, so it’s usually the first to go,” she said. “It continually got worse.”

Capriati, who has been working with coach Paul Annacone on a trial basis here this week, had not won since the U.S. Open, losing her opening matches in two tournaments in Europe. So she was relieved to survive the roller-coaster opening night.

“I’m pretty happy about it,” she said. “I served really well when I had to. It definitely saved me in the match today.”

Mauresmo squandered a 6-4, 2-0 lead, and it seemed she grew tired later in the second and third sets, perhaps a byproduct of playing several tough matches in winning the lead-up tournament in Philadelphia on Sunday. She played three sets in her last two rounds at Philadelphia.

Rubin had never won a match at the season-ending championships, going 0-3 before this breakthrough.

Rubin was asked if she thanked Venus Williams for the help when she ran into her at the tour’s fashion show in Santa Monica on Monday night.

“Well, she was mad at me,” Rubin said, smiling. “She said that I should have won in Philadelphia. So I didn’t really go into it with her. But what can you do?”

After a disappointing U.S. Open -- Rubin lost in the first round -- she regrouped by reaching three finals, losing to Dementieva in Bali and Shanghai and Clijsters in Luxembourg. At Philadelphia, she went out in the quarterfinals against Nadia Petrova of Russia. Then came the withdrawal of Venus Williams from the championships on Sunday, which was hardly a shock to anyone, considering Williams has been off the tour since losing in the Wimbledon final in early July.

“I felt like I probably would get in,” Rubin said. “I had some opportunities the last couple of tournaments and I really didn’t take advantage of it. So it was out of my hands. It was in my hands up to a certain point. You just have to sit back and see what happens and if you get an opportunity as I did to come in and play, you try to take advantage of it.”