Capriatis, Serena Win, Dokic struggles

By Christopher Davies
June 27 2002

On a day of upsets on the Men's Singles the Women's results were has expected and there were no big surprises. Sandrine Testud was the highest seed to fall (No.8) losing to Mary Pierce in straight sets.

Jennifer Capriati reached the third round of Wimbledon today when she beat Spain's Marta Marrero 6-2, 6-1 in just 50 minutes.

The third seed, who reached the semi-finals last year, was relieved to receive an easier passage after a tricky opening encounter with Janette Husarova.

Capriati took the second of three set points to take the lead. Then she sped up the winning process by taking just 19 minutes to complete the second victorious set.
Capriati though, is certainly running into the sort of form she will need to be in against the in-form Daja Bedanova, the 26th seed from the Czech Republic who blocks her path to the fourth round.

Her groundstrokes are in good working order as his her mental strength. She will need everything to be a strong opponent against the up and coming 19-year-old.

Serena Williams clearly still on a high following her victory at the French Open earlier this month, Serena was faced with an early reverse. Schiavone, wearning a black bandage on her left knee but not noticeably handicapped, broke the American serve to go 2-1 up.

This is the sort of challenge Serena relishes. She changed up to a higher gear, swept the next four games and had won the first set with 34 minutes gone, having won 71 per cent of her first service points.

When Williams blasted her way into a 4-1 second-set lead it seemed all over, only for Schiavone's bravery to cut the margin to 4-3 with a service break as Serena floated a backhand long.

The Italian promptly held her own serve to love, at which the crowd got behind her. But to no avail. Williams promptly closed it out, permitting her opponent only a point from each of the last two games.

Dokic the Yugoslav had struggled to settle in her opening round so a sense of urgency was felt during the opening set of her second round match with Kveta Hrdlickova, brushing her aside in 22-minutes.
But the one-way traffic of games came to a dramatic halt when the Yugolsav, who learnt her trade in Australia, suddenly found her Czech opponent was not going to allow herself to be rolled over.
Standing firm, she returned the seventh seed's shots with interest to establish a strong foothold in the second, claiming two of Dokic's service games to lead 4-1. The 26-year-old, who has never gone beyond the first round in her three previous Wimbledon appearances, wobbled slightly but remained focused enough to level the match 28-minutes later.
In the end the one-hour, 46-minute, 6-0, 4-6, 8-6 victory was satisfying but Dokic should heed the phrase, 'more haste, less speed' when she plays Nathalie Dechy in the next round.