Dokic delight at knocking out Capriati
Matthew Cronin
Sixth seed Jelena Dokic scored what she termed the biggest win of her career by upsetting second seed Jennifer Capriati 2-6 6-2 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the $750,000 Acura Classic on Friday.
The reward for the Yugoslav is a clash with unseeded Russian Anna Kournikova, who beat 12th seed Anna Smashnova of Israel 1-6 6-3 6-4 to reach the last four.
Top seed Venus Williams was made to fight all the way before she eliminated Belgian Kim Clijsters 6-3 5-7 6-4. She will now meet third-seeded fellow American Lindsay Davenport, a 6-1 6-1 winner over Japan's Ai Sugiyama.
Dokic went into her match with Capriati having failed to beat the American in four previous contests. But this time she stayed focused on the big points, especially with some powerful groundstrokes late in the third set.
"It's the biggest win of my career," said Dokic. "I've beaten (Martina) Hingis and Venus before but Jennifer was always the one to beat for me.
"She might be ranked (world) number three but she plays like a number one player, so it was very important."
Capriati outmuscled her opponent from the baseline in the first set and ate up her second serves. But Dokic found her range in the second and proved the stronger player in several punishing rallies.
The Yugoslav fought off two break points with an ace and a service winner before closing out the second set by forcing Capriati into an error on her forehand.
40-BALL RALLY
The two players delighted the crowd in the third set with several spectacular exchanges, including an end-to-end, 40-ball rally when Capriati served at deuce at 2-2 which finally ended with Dokic caressing a backhand drop-shot winner.
After the pair traded five successive breaks of serve, Dokic crunched a 97-mph service winner and followed it up with a forehand crosscourt pass to secure victory.
"Jennifer's fitness is better than mine but I improved mentally in this match," said Dokic after claiming her first win over a top-five player this year.
"I didn't give her too many free points and I kept the pressure on her. I hit some down-the-line shots tonight that looked impossible to make but I've been practising them and it really paid off."
"She's always been a good player but today she was a great player," said Capriati.
"In our other matches she usually made more mistakes. Tonight, she kept the pressure on me and hung in there very well."
Dokic and Kournikova have played once before, the Yugoslav winning a three-set match in the 2000 Fed Cup.
"It will be a completely different match because Jennifer's a lot more powerful," Dokic said. "Anna mixes it up more and can hit some great shots but can also make some bad errors."
Williams and Davenport have played 19 times. Davenport owns a 10-9 edge but Williams has won eight of their last 10 matches.
"She not only turned the tide against me but against a lot of players," Davenport said of Williams.
"She's improved so much and doesn't make as many unforced errors. It's very difficult to beat someone who hits hard, serves so well and plays great defence."
