Sharapova and Capriati on collision course

By Chris Davies
August 28 2003

Maria Sharapova enjoyed her first round win over Virginia Ruano Pascual and moving closer to a third-round clash with sixth seed Jennifer Capriati at the US Open

Capriati was equally impressive as she breezed past another Spaniard, Cristina Torrens Valero, 6-0 6-1 in just 35 minutes.

Second seed Justine Henin-Hardenne who has been red hot on the American hardcourt season thsi year struggled against Hungary's Aniko Kapros before grinding out a 7-5, 6-3 victory in the first round. os for a 4-2 lead in the first set.
But Kapros, who displayed an impressive array of groundstrokes which belied her serving, broke back immediately.

Jelena Dokic, the 22nd seed, has been struggling with her form for much of the season but had no trouble against Emmanuelle Gagliardi of Switzerland, winning 6-4 6-2 and next faces Mary Pierce.

Magdalena Maleeva became the second seed to fall, the number 10 going down 6-4 6-3 to Shinobu Asagoe


First Round Results
(15) Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) bt Conchita Martinez-Granados (Spa) 6-1, 6-0

(32) Marie-Gaiane Mikaelian (Swi) bt Marlene Weingartner (Ger) 6-3, 6-1

Silvija Talaja (Cro) bt Dally Randriantefy (Mad) 6-3, 6-0

Mary Pierce (Fra) bt Stephanie Gehrlein (Ger) 6-3, 6-2

(22) Jelena Dokic (Yug) bt Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Swi) 6-4, 6-2

Saori Obata (Jpn) bt Tian Tian Sun (Chn) 6-2, 7-5

(2) Justine Henin-Hardenne (Bel) bt Aniko Kapros (Hun) 7-5, 6-3

Maria Antonia Sanchez-Lorenzo (Spa) bt Yulia Beygelzimer (Ukr) 7-6 (12-10), 7-5

Virginie Razzano (Fra) bt Gala Leon Garcia (Spa) 6-1, 6-0

Shinobu Asagoe (Jpn) bt (10) Magdalena Maleeva (Bul) 6-4, 6-3

Antonella Serra-Zanetti (Ita) bt Stephanie Foretz (Fra) 3-6, 7-5, 6-4

(7) Anastasia Myskina (Rus) bt Henrieta Nagyova (Svk) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1

Tathiana Garbin (Ita) bt Mara Santangelo (Ita) 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4

Tina Pisnik (Slo) bt Angela Haynes (USA) 6-4, 6-2

(33) Katarina Srebotnik (Slo) bt Maureen Drake (Can) 0-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1

(30) Magui Serna (Spa) bt Yoon-Jeong Cho (Kor) 3-6, 6-2, 6-1

Amy Frazier (USA) bt Shenay Perry (USA) 6-3, 6-1

Dinara Safina (Rus) bt Carly Gullickson (USA) 7-5, 6-2

Arantxa Parra (Spa) bt Klara Koukalova (Cze) 6-2, 1-6, 6-2

(29) Francesca Schiavone (Ita) bt Eva Fislova (Svk) 6-4, 6-4

Claudine Schaul (Lux) bt (21) Anna Pistolesi (Isr) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2

Martina Sucha (Svk) bt Marissa Irvin (USA) 6-2, 7-6 (7-5)

Emilie Loit (Fra) bt (31) Alexandra Stevenson (USA) 6-2, 5-7, 6-4

Tatiana Perebiynis (Ukr) bt Marta Marrero (Spa) 6-1, 6-4

(11) Elena Dementieva (Rus) bt Alena Vaskova (Cze) 6-2, 6-3

(23) Nathalie Dechy (Fra) bt Bethanie Mattek (USA) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4

Samantha Reeves (USA) bt Iveta Benesova (Cze) 6-1, 6-1

Nicole Pratt (Aus) bt Jill Craybas (USA) 7-5, 6-0

(20) Silvia Farina Elia (Ita) bt Maria Emilia Salerni (Arg) 6-4, 6-1

Ludmila Cervanova (Svk) bt (16) Elena Bovina (Rus) 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4

(6) Jennifer Capriati (USA) bt Cristina Torrens-Valero (Spa) 6-0, 6-1

Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spa) 6-1, 6-1