Tennis

Capriati recovers to avert an upset

KEY BISCAYNE -- Flirting with defeat, Jennifer Capriati buried an easy overhead into the net, then stomped back to the baseline, where she smacked her forehead with the sweet spot in her racket strings: one, two, three, four times.

Having vented, Capriati got back to business. She wasn't perfect, but she was good enough to overcome a formidable effort by Meghann Shaughnessy, whose bid for a second straight upset fell just short Wednesday at the Nasdaq-100 Open.

Capriati rallied to earn a berth in the semifinals, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4. She put away a volley on match point, hopped happily, then leaned on the net cord, exhausted after the 21/2-hour endurance test.

Since commencing a comeback in 2001, Capriati has developed a reputation for crankiness, but after her latest victory she was all smiles.

"A great win for myself, so I'm pretty happy about that," she said. "But besides just playing well, just in general, yeah, I feel good about myself."

Left to stew was Shaughnessy, who eliminated three-time champion Venus Williams in the fourth round but lost too many pivotal points against Capriati.

"I was actually frustrated through most of the match," said Shaughnessy, seeded No. 23. "I had the chance and didn't take it."

In today's semifinals, the No. 6-seeded Capriati plays No. 12 Chanda Rubin, who upset No. 4 Justine Henin-Hardenne 6-3, 6-2. Rubin moved into the top 10 last week for the first time since October 1996.

Top-seeded Serena Williams plays No. 3 Kim Clijsters in the other semifinal.

On the men's side, No. 5 Carlos Moya earned his first semifinal berth at Key Biscayne, winning the final five points to edge wild-card entrant Robby Ginepri 6-7 (7-5), 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).

In the quarterfinals of women's doubles, Martina Navratilova, 46, and Svetlana Kuznetsova beat the world's top-ranked team, Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez, 7-6 (9-7), 6-7 (7-5), 6-3.

Besides notching a narrow victory, Capriati defused a couple of minor controversies.

She said she didn't hold a grudge about comments Shaughnessy made last year after Capriati was dismissed from the U.S. Fed Cup team. And she decided not to have the Outkast song Bombs Over Baghdad played during her warmup after her choice of the rap tune for her previous match drew considerable publicity.

"It was just made into being a big deal," she said. "I just said, 'Forget about it.' "

Instead, U2's Walk On accompanied Capriati's warmup against Shaughnessy.

When Capriati was kicked off the Fed Cup team last year in a bitter dispute over practice rules, an outspoken Shaughnessy sided with U.S. captain Billie Jean King. But Capriati and Shaughnessy shook hands after their match and showed no hint of hard feelings.

Then there was the tennis. Shaughnessy has bulked up 15 pounds the past two years thanks to a vigorous training program, and she proved strong enough to go toe-to-toe with the muscular Capriati in long baseline rallies.

There were moments of brilliance, but also plenty of erratic shots. Shaughnessy committed 48 unforced errors to Capriati's 41, which meant lots of missed chances and close games.

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