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| Capriati rolls over Vakulenko |
31 maggio 2003
Roland Garros
Seventh seeded
American Jennifer Capriati showed no mercy in her 6-1 6-2 demolition of
Ukrainian qualifier Julia Vakulenko early Saturday afternoon. The
27-year-old American crushed Vakulenko in 57 minutes before the sizzling
temperatures on Court Suzanne Lenglen had taken effect.
Capriati, the winner here in 2001, did not
need to blast her usual number of screaming winners, preferring instead to
let her inexperienced opponent combust under the scorching Parisian sun. She
piled the pressure on the youngster with her heavy groundstrokes, forcing
the 134-ranked Ukrainian to make 49 unforced errors including nine double
faults. Capriati hit just 13 winners.
Clearly overwhelmed by the enormity of the occasion, 19-year-old Vakulenko (playing
in her first Grand Slam singles draw) fell victim to a serious bout of
nervous tension.
The former world No1 clinched the first set in just 28 minutes despite
serving atrociously (23 per cent). Her service woes continued throughout the
match, and she finished off with a sub-par performance (44 per cent).
Making her tenth appearance here, Capriati is searching for her first title
since her triumph at the Australian Open in 2002.
The former world No1 will meet dangerous Russian Nadia Petrova in the fourth
round. Petrova devastated American Marissa Irvin 6-1 6-1 in 46 minutes, also on Saturday.
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