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Catching the breaks Capriati holds off Schett as smooth run continues
Updated: Tuesday September 04, 2001 3:58 AM
NEW YORK (AP) -- There were moments in Monday's match at the U.S. Open when Jennifer Capriati was vulnerable, facing break points against Barbara Schett, a solid player who took Venus Williams out of the French Open. Nine times, Schett had break points, a chance to turn the momentum her way. Each time, Capriati held. When Schett finally broke her, Capriati had the match firmly in her grasp. The first game of the match may have been the most pivotal. With Capriati serving, it went to deuce six times. Four times, Capriati saved breaks before finally winning the game to hold her serve. "I thought that was kind of how the match was going to go," Capriati said. "It was going to be tough like that. I was just hoping it wasn't going to be that tough every game." Capriati won 6-3, 6-3, advancing to the quarterfinals for the first time in a decade, and afterward she remembered those breaks she saved. There were shots she would not have made a year ago, dashes to the net to place neat returns out of Schett's reach. "It's almost like I play better on those points," she said. "Maybe I just handle the pressure well or like the pressure. You know, it makes me play better.
"It's just playing. For as long as I've been playing, you just get used to it. You automatically condition yourself. You try not to think of that being break point or set point. You just try to think of it just like any other point you would play." And Capriati has been playing all the points very well this season. Winner of the Australian and French opens, her first career Grand Slam victories, she has written a neat comeback story. Her win over Schett returned her to the quarterfinals of the Open for the first time in 10 years, a tennis lifetime ago for her. Capriati was 15 in 1991, the youngest semifinalist first at Wimbledon and then at the Open. Two years later, her career plummeted with off-court troubles and now, five years after returning to the tour, she is back in the quarters of the Open. "It's totally different in a different way," she said. "I'm ranked No. 2, seeded No. 2. They give that attention to the top-ranked players. Before, I just wasn't that high ranked. I had good results, but not like the results I have coming into it this year. I think it's definitely higher profile now. "I'm pretty happy about it. It's been a while since I made it past the fourth round here at the Open. I'm just really eager to get farther, just try to really do well here." Capriati has not lost a set in her first four matches and said there were times when she felt in the zone, a special place where athletes feel unbeatable. "It's pretty hard to explain," she said. "It's making shots that you don't even know that you're going to make and you just make. They just go in. It's like nothing can go wrong. It's a pretty cool feeling. It's like a rush." And against Schett? Capriati smiled. "I think I hit some zone shots today," she said.
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