Capriati confirms her comeback by beating Rubin

Capriati confirms her comeback by beating Rubin

SYDNEY (AFP): American Jennifer Capriati gave her tennis rehabilitation further authenticity with a fighting three-sets victory over compatriot Chanda Rubin at the Sydney International tournament yesterday.

Mary Pierce's tournament ended after losing 6-4, 6-4 to Indonesia's Yayuk Basuki in a second round match and eighth- seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa bombed out to American Mary Joe Fernandez, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.

Capriati, out to wipe the slate clean after drug and shoplifting charges which all but snuffed out her precocious tennis career three years ago, rebuffed the higher-ranked Rubin, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in a 103-minute opening-round match.

Capriati, 21 in March and ranked 36 in the world, was imbued by her success over the highly-regarded Rubin and gave promise of making a go of her tennis career after her seamy past.

Beaming her trademark smile, Capriati announced "I'm back" after mastering the 17th-ranked Rubin, a semifinalist at last year's Australian Open, and the notorious unsettling winds on White City's center court.

"It's a great boost, it's like I'm back and that I still have what it takes to beat a player like Chanda and it shows I've come a long way since I played her last time," Capriati said of her last meeting with Rubin in Indian Wells, California, last March.

Assessing her strengths since she broke into the tennis world as a 14-year-old in 1990, Capriati said: "I think overall everything is stronger, I don't know if that is because I am older, more mature... it's not like little kids' tennis any more."

Capriati, fatigued by tennis 'burn-out' and following regular spats with his father-coach Stefano, dropped out of the Tour near the end of 1993.

In December, 1993, she was arrested on a shoplifting charge in Florida and in May, 1994 she was charged with possession of marijuana and had two stints in drug rehabilitation clinics as penance.

There were signs that her comeback was for real last November when she beat Monica Seles in straight sets to reach the final of a Chicago tournament.

Capriati was yesterday typically strong on her forehand hitting 10 winners to Rubin's eight, and she was equally powerful on the backhand, outscoring her opponent, 8-3.

Her next round opponent will be Canadian Rene Simpson and her chances of repeating her 1993 Sydney tournament triumph were further improved when top seed Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, in her top half of the singles draw, was upset by American Amy Frazier, 6-3, 6-3.

It was the Spaniard's first opening round loss as a top seed in a tournament, but she said it was her first match since mid- November and she had made many unforced errors.

Sanchez Vicario was not the only top seed to crash out Tuesday. South African second seed Wayne Ferreira fell to Spaniard Carlos Moya, 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 while former French Open champion Sergi Bruguera eliminated fellow Spaniard and fifth seed Felix Mantilla, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

Australian wild card Rachel McQuillan dumped big-serving Dutch seventh seed Brenda Schultz-McCarthy, 6-4, 6-7 (0-7), 6-4, while Croatian third seed Iva Majoli put paid to French qualifier Sarah Pitkowski, 6-2, 6-1.

Frenchman Guy Forget withdrew from his first round match against South African Grant Stafford. He was troubled by a blistered hand.

Compatriot Neville Godwin, who replaced Forget as a lucky loser, went down to Stafford, 6-4, 6-1.

New Zealand Open

In Auckland, unknown American Cecil Mamiit emerged here yesterday as a potential bright new star when he defeated New Zealand number one Brett Steven's 7-5 4-6 3-6 at the BellSouth Tennis Open.

Steven was originally scheduled to play tournament No 2 seed Magnus Gustaffson of Sweden but found out in less than two hours before his game that he would instead be facing the unknown Mamiit.

Gustaffson, ranked 16th in the world, withdrew Tuesday with a recurring shoulder injury. He was the second-seeded player to withdraw with injury from the tournament after American Malivai Washington, seeded fourth, withdrew last week with a back problem.