|
|
| |
| ||
| ||
|
|
 Welcome back Capriati gets long-awaited win; No. 2 seed Rios ousted
Posted: Wednesday June 24, 1998 03:17 PM
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) -- For Jennifer Capriati, playing at Wimbledon for the first time in five years was a thrill in itself. Winning was even better. "It's great to be back here," she said. "It brings back a lot of good memories. I was really pumped up. I was really excited to be out there." Capriati overcame nine foot faults to defeat Australia's Nicole Pratt 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 Wednesday, her first Grand Slam victory in five years. Her return to the All England Club came on a day when the men's field lost No. 2 seed Marcelo Rios and No. 4 seed Greg Rusedski, the bullet server who withdrew because of an injured ankle. Rios, who held the No. 1 ranking briely earlier this year but whose game is not ideally suited to grass, was ousted in the first round by Spain's Francisco Clavet, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. Rios, who complained about numerous line calls, said, "We're in England, what do you expect? Just kidding." The Chilean, who lost in the first round of a Wimbledon warmup tournament in Nottingham, said he was fed up with the game. "I'm not enjoying playing right now," he said. "I'm not enjoying being on the court. The grass, I never really liked it that much." Rios also expressed disdain for Wimbledon, criticizing the "organization and transportation" in particular. Faring far better were Pete Sampras, Goran Ivanisevic and Steffi Graf, all advancing in straight sets. This was Capriati's first Wimbledon appearance since reaching the quarterfinals in 1993. She's played in only five other Grand Slam events since, losing in the first round each time. In 1991, Capriati became the youngest women's Wimbledon semifinalist at age 15. But her career plummeted after problems with drugs and injuries. Capriati became a symbol of what can go wrong when a teen-ager is consumed by hype and pressure. But the 22-year-old said she now feels in control of her life. "Whatever I'm doing it's what I want to be doing," she said. "I just try to be happy off the court as well as on the court, just keep a balance." After a succession of aborted comebacks, Capriati's goal is to return to the tennis elite. In April she was ranked 267. Now she's up to 151. "Right now I want it pretty bad," she said. "I'm really focused and determined to play well. ... I have to believe in myself. I believe that I can go all the way." While Capriati was reacquainting herself with Wimbledon, Rusedski was saying goodbye. Rusedski, a quarterfinalist last year, pulled out before the resumption of his rain-delayed match with Mark Draper. Rusedski damaged ligaments in his left ankle in a fall at the Queen's Club tournament two weeks ago. He was limping Tuesday as he split the first two sets with Draper and was down a break at 5-4 in the third. The Canadian-born Briton, with the fastest serve in tennis, practiced in the morning and said he was ready to play. But he changed his mind a few hours later. "I thought it would get better," he said. "I thought when it got warmed up it would get better. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. ... I thought that this year was really my year, but it just wasn't to be." Rusedski's withdrawal left No. 12 Tim Henman as Britain's best hope for its first men's Wimbledon champion since 1936. Henman advanced with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 win over David Nainkin. Sampras, the top seed bidding for his fifth title in six years, moved into the third round with a 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) victory over Sweden's Mikhael Tillstrom. Graf, seeking her eighth Wimbledon title, won the first eight games as she powered into the third round with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Slovakia's Henrieta Nagyova. The fourth-seeded German, playing her first Grand Slam tournament since major knee surgery a year ago, cried after her first-round match Monday. But there were no tears today. "It was good to get the first match over, the emotions going," she said. "I feel I've calmed down a little bit since then." Ivanisevic, a two-time Wimbledon finalist who had won only one match in his last five Grand Slam tournaments, beat Grant Stafford 6-3, 6-3, 6-2. "I can beat anybody when I play good here, and I can lose to some serious bad guys," said Ivanisevic, the No. 14 seed. "You never know with me. ... Not too many people rate me as a favorite or expect me to do good here. But I feel good. Anything is possible." French Open champion Carlos Moya, the No. 5 seed from Spain, needed five sets to get past India's Mahesh Bhupathi, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. No. 15 Karol Kucera became the fourth men's seed eliminated when he was beaten 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 6-4 by Vladimir Voltchkov. No. 5 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario defeated Catalina Cristea 5-7, 6-2, 6-0, while No. 9 Amanda Coetzer was ousted by Naoko Sawamatsu 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Switzerland's Patty Schnyder, the women's No. 13 seed, won in three sets over Helena Sukova, a 33-year-old Czech who came out of retirement to play her 17th straight Wimbledon.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. Terms under which this service is provided to you.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jennifer Capriati reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 1993 and hasn't been back since 