Tough conditions

Martinez, Capriati advance at windy Eastbourne

EASTBOURNE, England (AP) -- Former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez and Jennifer Capriati reached the semifinals of the grass court Eastbourne tournament Thursday.

Martinez was the first player through, defeating fourth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 6-3.

"It's not easy to play here with the wind, but I'm feeling pretty good," Martinez said. "I tried to put a lot of balls in and play with my slice and make her play. I think I played really well."

Third-seeded Jennifer Capriati joined Martinez in the semis, overcoming a second set slump with a 6-1, 7-5 win over unseeded Nathalie Dechy of France.

Friday, she took the opening set 6-1, and then dropped the first nine points of the second set as Dechy built a 4-1 lead.

Capriati then leveled at 4-4, before breaking to lead 6-5 with a stunning backhand pass down the line. Although she had to fight off two break points as she served out the match, a netted backhand from Dechy ended the contest.

Thursday, Capriati swept the first set against Amy Frazier, and then fell behind 0-5 in the second.

"Maybe it's the first set is too easy, and maybe I lose my concentration a little bit or I'm not as tough," Capriati said.

"But it's good that I broke her momentum a little bit earlier (than against Frazier), but I had to really concentrate and fight really hard to make it even again."

Windy conditions made good tennis difficult, but Capriati was able to take some positives as she heads into Wimbledon.

"I'm getting a lot of good match practice, and this will make me mentally tough for sure, to be able to get through matches in these conditions", she said.

"They're making me work, but the matches are not incredibly long so I'm hopefully not going to get fatigued for Wimbledon."

Capriati will meet the winner of the match between second-seeded Chanda Rubin and Israel's Anna Pistolesi. Martinez faces the victor in the quarterfinal between Magdalena Maleeva and Silvia Farina Elia.

The unseeded Martinez was rarely troubled by Hantuchova, who often overhit the ball and struggled with the Spaniard's sliced backhand. Hantuchova held a break point in the third game, but didn't earn another until the final game of the match.

"She knows the game so well, and every time I play her she makes life very awkward for me on the court," Hantuchova said. "I thought I had a better chance on grass because it's faster and it suits me, but it didn't work today and part of the reason definitely was the wind."

 

Related information

Stories

Top-seeded Davenport loses at Eastbourne

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video