NEW YORK, 9 September 2004 — Heavy rain delayed the start of play at the US Open yesterday, after a day of fireworks a day earlier when Serena Williams and second seed Amelie Mauresmo’s dreams were shattered.
Weather permitting, Lindsay Davenport will begin the day’s program at Flushing Meadows on Arthur Ashe Court with a quarterfinal against Japan’s Shinobu Asagoe followed by the all-Russian clash between Nadia Petrova and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
The highlight of day 10, however, is the men’s quarterfinal between No. 1 seed Roger Federer and eight-times grand slam winner Andre Agassi. Britain’s Tim Henman will also be in action against Dominik Hrbaty as he attempts to reach the semifinal of the US Open for the first time. The weather forecast for the New York area is for cloudy skies and showers throughout the day.
Yesterday, Jennifer Capriati claimed a semifinal spot after a day of drama, controversy and magical tennis on Tuesday. Real fireworks came later on a crackling Arthur Ashe Court when eighth seed Capriati downed twice former champion Serena Williams 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 after two hours six minutes of unrelenting theater.
That was followed by another awesome display of power by defending men’s champion Andy Roddick as he blazed past Spain’s Tommy Robredo 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the last eight.
The 17th meeting between the old foes had everything the crowd could have asked for as two of the heavyweights of women’s tennis went toe-to-toe under the Flushing Meadows lights.
Third seed Williams took the first set with two service breaks but the 28-year-old Capriati recovered her senses in time to set up a thrilling, and controversial, finale against her fellow American.
In the opening game of the third set, Williams served at deuce and hit a backhand winner inside the line which was correctly called good by the line judge, only for Portuguese umpire Mariana Alves to call “advantage Capriati”.
Williams’s disbelief turned to fury as she argued at the umpire’s chair, but to no avail as Capriati broke serve. Williams broke back to level at 1-1, only to surrender serve again in the next game.
Capriati moved 5-4 ahead to serve for the match but was given another let-off at 0-15 when a Williams pass was again called out despite appearing to hit the line. To her credit Williams kept her cool and fought ferociously to stay in the quarter-final, saving two match points before a netted backhand ended the contest.
Alves will not officiate at any more matches in this year’s event. “Regrettably, the replay on television showed that an incorrect overrule was made,” tournament referee Brian Earley said in a statement.
The crowd was still buzzing when Roddick walked out for his fourth-round match.
The American, who blitzed his way through the first three rounds without dropping a set, turned on the power once again to demolish 18th seed Robredo.
The second seed, looking to become the first man to win back-to-back titles since Australian Patrick Rafter in 1997 and 1998, bashed 36 winners. Roddick now faces big-serving Swede Joachim Johansson after the 28th seed took his ace tally for the tournament to 76 in a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Frenchman Michael Llodra.
