September 5, 2004
Serena, Jennifer Set Up Quarterfinal Clash
FLUSHING MEADOWS, NY - When the women's singles draw for the 2004 US Open was
conducted, keen tennis watchers immediately looked forward to the potential
quarterfinal between regular rivals Serena Williams (right) and Jennifer
Capriati.
That highly-anticipated encounter will take place at Flushing Meadows on
Tuesday after both Americans won fourth round matches Sunday.
Williams, the No.3 seed and two-time former champion, put on an impeccable
serving display in her best match of the week to defeat No.15 seed Patty
Schnyder of Switzerland, 64 62.
No.8 seed Capriati, a three-time semifinalist here, came from behind to beat
No.12 seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan, 75 62.
While Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport have the most enduring rivalry
among active players (meeting for the 25th time in the fourth round on Monday),
the Serena-Jennifer match-up has regularly produced some of the most gripping
and high-quality matches in recent years.
It will be the seventh time the former No.1s have met in a Grand Slam event
and the sixth time in the quarterfinal round. Both women will be contesting
the US Open quarterfinals for the fifth time in their respective careers.
Serena took a 5-1 head-to-head lead against Schnyder into the match, but the
Swiss had won their last encounter, on clay in Charleston in 2002.
Williams's 12 aces and an 81% success rate on her first serve proved too much
for Schnyder on Sunday as the 1999 and 2002 champion advanced to the last
eight in 58 minutes.
"She's a good player," said Williams of Schnyder. "She's kind of tricky, and
her serve is really tricky if you're not really moving your feet. So you have
to really be on the beware of her serve."
"When she serves that well, I will never be able to make a break," said
Schnyder. "If she serves like this, it's hard for anybody. I'm always telling
(myself), if I want to win, it's like she has to play like less than one
hundred percent."
Williams boasts a 10-6 win-loss record against Capriati, but has won only one
of their three encounters this year. That was in the Wimbledon quarterfinals
in a lopsided 61 61 result.
"We're going to be excited to go into the next round," said Williams of
playing Capriati. "We're at the US Open, who doesn't want to do good here?
I like playing Jennifer a lot, I really do. She brings out the best in me."
The Serena-Capriati clash was in danger of not eventuating as Sugiyama burst
to a 5-3 lead, holding set point at 5-4. But Capriati forced an error from
Sugiyama and took the next three games to wrap up the first set. From there
on the American's confidence grew, blasting 12 winners to three to wrap up
the second set 6-2 in 27 minutes, spending 70 minutes in total on-court.
"I wasn't happy with the game that I played to lose my serve," said Capriati
of the first set. "I feel like I just didn't concentrate well and I just
decided to try to concentrate a little better and step it up.
"I think I served well to get out of it then. So I just played solid tennis
and concentrated really well."
In playing Serena for the first time at her home Grand Slam, Capriati said
she expects Williams to come out firing.
"From her you pretty much expect the same thing," said Capriati. "Just feel
like either it's going to be like a bulldozer effect or it's just gonna be
like a lot of errors."
The all-Russian match between Top 10 stars Elena Dementieva, seeded No.6, and
No.10 Vera Zvonareva was bound to feature its fair share of drama, with both
players known for showing their emotions on-court.
Despite romping through the first set 6-1, Zvonareva became visibly upset
after going down an early service break in the second. Sobbing and burying
her head in a towel at the change of ends, Zvonareva lost the second set 6-4
amid a flurry of unforced errors.
The third set was a slightly calmer affair, but Zvonareva's errors continued
(63 for the match) and she dropped serve three times to go down 16 64 63 in
four minutes short of two hours.
"You wouldn't see any fourth round matches of a Grand Slam not emotional,"
said Zvonareva. "So I think everybody have emotions and everybody try their
best."
Dementieva is just one match from matching her semifinal effort in 2000, the
farthest the 22-year-old had gone in a major until her runner-up finish at
Roland Garros earlier this year.
"I think that I wasn't playing my best today, but I'm very happy that I was
able to win," said Dementieva of her fourth round win. "Sometimes it's
important to win a match when something doesn't go too good."
Dementieva's next challenge will come from No.2 seed Amelie Mauresmo, who
successfully advanced to the quarterfinals for the fourth straight year with
a 64 62 win against No.16 seed Francesca Schiavone.
Dementieva said she is looking forward to a rematch against the Frenchwoman,
whom she defeated in the Roland Garros quarterfinals.
"I think if she wins, it's going to be very interesting because we played lot
of times against each other," said Dementieva. "I'm sure she wants to take
her revenge against me, especially after I beat her in Paris. I know that
she's a great player and I have to play my best to win against her."
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---禪心已作沾泥絮，莫向春風舞鷓鴣---
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