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Bank of the West
Mercury Rising: Capriati/Raymond Sparkle at Bank of the West
Kim Shanley
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The match began as a Capriati walk-over. Capriati, who seemingly regained a fitness and quickness level that brought her a number one ranking two years ago, dominated the first set. Her ability to take the ball early on the serve and during baseline rallies robbed Raymond of time and kept her away from the net. While Raymond has a wonderful array of topspin and slice groundstrokes on either side, trading baseline shots with Capriati was suicidal.
After losing the first set 6-1, Raymond reverted to what she does best. She looked for every and any opportunity to get to the net and her slice approach shots and deft volley’s paid immediate dividends.
With Federer’s triumph at Wimbledon, the men’s game once again has a champion all-court player. There is no equivalent on the women’s tour. But for the last two sets of last night’s battle in Palo Alto, Lisa Raymond reminded everyone what an all-court player can do to an opponent—even one as superb as Capriati. Well placed serves, beautiful sweeping slice approaches, and crisp volleys had Capriati reeling. But Capriati didn’t concede anything, running down shot after shot. Raymond closed out the set on a line call Capriati vehemently disputed. The crowds seemed to agree with her, however, the umpire did not and Capriati received a code violation for her efforts.
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Raymond continued her all-court attack, taking a 3-1 lead in the final set. But Capriati fought back, taking advantage of few weak service games and her steady baseline game. Raymond was unable to pressure Capriati at net as consistently as she had in the second set and the opening of the third, and Capriati broke Raymond in the final game to win the set 6-4.
When Serena Williams pulled out of the Bank of the West tournament, the undercurrent of disappointed and concern for the tournament’s success immediately seeped into the media coverage. But a few more matches like the Raymond/Capriati battle, and the Bank of the West promoters could be saying “Serena Who?” by Sunday’s final and really mean it.
Clijsters Tops Mikaelian to Move into Semifinals
After losing a close first set to hard-hitting Marie-Gaianeh Mikaelian 4-6, Clijsters showed why she is ranked second in the world and steamrolled a tiring Mikaelian 6-0, 6-1. With boyfriend Lleyton Hewitt looking on in the stands, Clijsters, ran down just about everything the hard hitting Mikaelian threw at her and answered with a blistering attack of her own.
Dokic Loses to Unheralded Kabchi
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Number five seed Jelene Dokic was a heavy favorite to beat Maria Vento Kabachi, who had never reached a semi-final of a WTA tournament and is not even ranked among the top 100. But Kabachi had won some qualifying rounds and Dokic found herself playing a committed and steady opponent.
Dokic was
neither committed nor steady as she wilted toward the end of the first
set, losing 4-6. Dokic seemed to have only one gear after losing the first
set: listless. And she seemed to grow even more listless after that.
Dokic, who typically dominates lower-ranked players, became more and more
erratic off the ground in the second set, even appearing to lose interest. The
end came quickly, with Dokic going down in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. Kabchi
moves on to her first WTA semi-final on Saturday.
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