Tennis: It all ends well for Capriati

Defending champion Jennifer Capriati survived a marathon second-set tie-break to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in Melbourne today.

Capriati and Italian Rita Grande, the 20th seed, were both treated to a standing ovation after the American top seed won 6-3 7-6.

The tie-breaker was taken 11/9 by Capriati, but only on her fourth match point after she had saved two set points and after the umpire had made an unusual interruption.

The drama was such that at 9/9 Capriati was about to serve when the umpire stopped her and told the two players to change ends.

Grande then sent a forehand long and double-faulted to go out.

A relieved Capriati said: ‘‘I didn’t even know the score I was just trying to suck air.

‘‘In the second set she played really well, really picked up her game and was not missing at all.

‘‘It’s tough to play her. She does not give the ball much pace and it was a test of my patience. I even got in a slicing battle with her at times.’’

Capriati next plays 1999 runner-up and seventh seed Amelie Mauresmo, the French 22-year-old beating German Marlene Weingartner 6-0 7-5.

Also through is sixth seed Justine Henin, a 6-0 6-3 winner over 12th seeded Russian Elena Dementieva. She then had to wait to discover if it was fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters, the fourth seed, or unseeded Slovakian Janette Husarova she met for a place in the semi-finals.

The other half of the draw has Venus Williams against Monica Seles and Martina Hingis against Italian Adriana Serra Zanetti.