Phenom Formerly Known As Capriati Loses She Bows Out Of French Open As Comeback Suffers Setback
Not her mother’s shouts of “C’mon Jenny,” nor the crowd’s chants of “Allez Jen-eeee-fair” could coax a victory for Jennifer Capriati on her first return to the French Open in three years.
While defending champions Thomas Muster and Steffi Graf thrived in their return to the Open with straight-set victories on center court Tuesday, Capriati was ousted by a player making only her second Grand Slam appearance.
Capriati had 34 unforced errors and 11 double faults in a 6-3, 7-5 loss to Yi Jing-Qian of China on the relative obscurity of Court 10.
Capriati, now 20, reached the French semifinals in 1990 at age 14, becoming the youngest semifinalist in Grand Slam history, and made the quarterfinals two other times.
This was Capriati’s first match at the French Open since she dropped off the tour in 1993. She rejoined the circuit earlier this year after two stints in drug rehabilitation.
“When I’m out there, I do feel a lot of emotions,” Capriati said. “I let them get to me. … There’s maybe things that I think about that make it hard for me out there.”
All the shouts of encouragement did help her rally from 1-4 down in the second set to 5-5. But it was hardly enough.
“The crowd was great,” she said. “They were supporting me. I felt it. It helped. I needed it.”
She double-faulted twice in the 11th game to lose serve; Yi served out the match in the next game.
“I think my game is a little rusty,” Capriati said. “It’s not exactly the way I’d like it to be. But I don’t think I’m that far off. I’m working on it. I’m doing the best I can. It’s not an easy thing. The gap makes a difference.”
Yi, a 22-year-old ranked No. 72, has played almost exclusively in challenger events. In her only previous Grand Slam, she lost in the first round at this year’s Australian Open.
Muster, the No. 2 seed, showed no signs of last week’s twisted ankle, beating Denmark’s Frederik Fetterlein 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.
Muster stumbled briefly in the first set when he lost four straight games after leading 3-0. Fetterlein, ranked 107, served three aces in a row to go up 4-3. But the Austrian regained command, taking three consecutive games to win the set.
The only seeded player eliminated Tuesday was No. 6 Thomas Enqvist, beaten 6-2, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 by American Richey Reneberg.
No. 4 Michael Chang routed David Prinosil 6-1, 6-1, 6-2.
Stefan Edberg, playing his 13th and final French Open, won 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 over Karim Alami.
MEMO: Changed in Spokane edition.