Sweet revenge

Capriati tops Stevenson to advance in State Farm

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Top-seeded Jennifer Capriati won her first match in the State Farm Women's Tennis Classic on Thursday, beating Alexandra Stevenson 6-4, 6-4.

The Australian Open winner advanced to a quarterfinal match Friday against No. 6 Barbara Schett of Austria, a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 winner over Slovenia's Tina Pisnik.

Stevenson is the only player to beat Capriati this year, knocking her out of the second round last month in Sydney.

"It feels good to get revenge," said Capriati, who slipped from No. 1 to No. 2 in this week's world rankings. "It kind of erases that loss for me. It shows you're only as good as your last set."

Stevenson started out well, leading 3-1 in the first set before Capriati broke her serve. Stevenson also led 4-2 in the second set.

"It was pretty pathetic," Stevenson said. "It was just a bad day. You can't really blame it on anything."

Schett struggled more than expected against Pisnik.

"At the moment, I'm not really confident out there," Schett said. "I'll have to play a lot better against Jennifer."

In a night match, Nathalie Dechy of France beat fourth-seeded Meghann Shaughnessy 7-5, 6-2.

Shaughnessy, from the Phoenix area, was the only seeded player who failed to advance to the quarterfinals.

"It's always hard to play somebody who is the local person," said Dechy, 5-0 against Shaughnessy. "I really tried not to focus on that. I've beaten her so much it helped my confidence."

Dechy will face seventh-seeded Francesca Schiavone of Italy, a 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-2 winner over Russia's Tatiana Panova.

 

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