Capriati overcome Shaughnessy, Rubin crushes Henin

By Chris Davies
March 27 2003

The 12th-seeded Rubin easily disposed of the fourth-seeded Henin-Hardenne 6-3, 6-2 to reach the semifinals at the $2.96 million NASDAQ-100 Open

The American needed only one hour and eight minutes to advance to her second semifinal of the year. Rubin also made the semis of Tokyo-Pan Pacific in February, but lost to Monica Seles in three sets.

The 26-year-old Rubin belted 18 winners and broke Henin-Hardenne five times in the match, while getting broken only twice on her serve. Rubin forced Henin into 22 unforced errors and was also the beneficiary of four double-faults by her Belgian opponent.

Jennifer Capriati held off fellow American Meghann Shaughnessy on Wednesday to reach the semifinals at the $2.96 million NASDAQ-100 Open.

The sixth-seeded Capriati dropped the first set before rebounding to beat her 23rd-seeded opponent 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 on the Stadium Court at the sprawling Tennis Center at Crandon Park.

Capriati needed 2 hours, 34 minutes to sneak past Shaughnessy, who stunned second-seeded and three-time Miami titlist Venus Williams here on Monday.

The 23-year-old Shaughnessy rattled off nine aces, compared to zero for Capriati, but Capriati notched more winners (29-24) and committed fewer unforced errors (41-48) en route to a hard-fought win amid mid-80-degree temperatures on Day 8.

Capriati secured the second-set tiebreak when Shaughnessy netted a backhand, and then jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third set and held on from there.

Both players recorded four service breaks apiece in the lengthy encounter.

Capriati, still seeking her first title of any kind since capturing a second straight Australian Open in January of 2002, will appear in her third semifinal of 2003, going 0-2 in her previous trips. Her last two events resulted in semifinal setbacks, with one loss coming against Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne in Dubai and the other coming versus Lindsay Davenport at Indian Wells the week before this Miami event commenced.

The three-time Grand Slam event champion Capriati, last year's Miami runner-up to the powerful Serena Williams, will meet Chanda Rubin on Thursday. The other semi will pit the top-seeded Williams against third-seeded Belgian Kim Clijsters.

Capriati will turn 27 on Saturday, the day of the women's final at this 12-day tournament.