Capriati and Davenport Stroll On

By Chris Davies
March 7 2003

Jennifer Capriati and Lindsay Davenport were among the second-round winners on Thursday at the $2.1 million Pacific Life Open, Indian Wells

The second-seeded Capriati easily blew away Italian Antonella Serra Zanetti, 6-4, 6-2, while the fourth-seeded Davenport needed three sets to dispose of Daja Bedanova, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1.

Next for Capriati will be Czech Denisa Chladkova, who continued her good form at the tournament by beating 30th-seeded American Laura Granville, 6-3, 6-0. Davenport will take on 25th seed Elena Likhovtseva, a 6-2, 6-2 winner over American Meilen Tu.

Fifth-seeded Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo eased into the third round with a 6-4, 6-0 decision against young Swiss Myriam Casanova. Mauresmo, a semifinalist at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last season, will face Thailands Tamarine Tanasugarn in the thrid round.

A big upset came when Svetlana Kuznetsova pushed out fellow Russian Anastasia Myskina who had a big chance this week to climb further into the top 10 with Seles pulling out earlier in the week lost in three sets, 6-4, 6-7 (7-9), 6-3.

In other matches involving top-16 seeds, Indonesian Angelique Widjaja blasted ninth-seeded Swiss Patty Schnyder 6-4, 6-2bounced Czech Iveta Benesova 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Kim Clijsters, the 2001 Indian Wells runner-up, is the top seed. The Belgian star, who was last week's runner-up to Japan's surprising Ai Sugiyama in Scottsdale, will open her week against Colombian Fabiola Zuluaga here. Also on Friday defending champion Daniela Hantuchova will begin her first defence of a title when she takes on Petra Mandula of Hungary.



Results of Second Round

(5) Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) bt Myriam Casanova (Swi) 6-4 6-0

Angelique Widjaja (Ina) bt (9) Patty Schnyder (Swi) 6-4 6-2

(29) Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) bt Shinobu Asagoe (Jpn) 6-2 6-0

(14) Elena Dementieva (Rus) bt Iveta Benesova (Cze) 2-6 6-4 6-1

Magui Serna (Spa) bt (24) Clarisa Fernandez (Arg) 3-6 6-4 6-1

Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spa) bt (22) Alexandra Stevenson (USA) 6-4 6-4

(13) Elena Bovina (Rus) bt Yoon-Jeong Cho (Kor) 6-4 5-7 6-1

Samantha Reeves (USA) bt (20) Paola Suarez (Arg) 4-6 6-3 6-4

(2) Jennifer Capriati (USA) bt Antonella Serra-Zanetti (Ita) 6-4 6-2

Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt (7) Anastasia Myskina (Rus) 6-4 6-7 (7-9) 6-3

(12) Eleni Daniilidou (Gre) bt Stephanie Foretz (Fra) 7-5 6-4

Vera Zvonareva (Rus) bt (28) Iva Majoli (Cro) 6-1 3-6 6-2

Denisa Chladkova (Cze) bt (30) Laura Granville (USA) 6-3 6-0

(4) Lindsay Davenport (USA) bt Daja Bedanova (Cze) 6-3 5-7 6-1

(25) Elena Likhovtseva (Rus) bt Melien Tu (USA) 6-2 6-2

(23) Meghann Shaughnessy (USA) bt Flavia Pennetta (Ita) 6-3 6-7 (6-8) 6-3