Jennifer Capriati made hard work of her third round Centre Court victory over Russian Tatiana Panova at Wimbledon this afternoon. The American eventually extinguished the hopes of her 5ft opponent to take the match 6-4 6-4 to reach the last 16 having trailed at one stage by 4-1 in the final set.
Capriati justified her fourth seed status to power her way to five straight games when it looked like Panova's gamesmanship just might see her through a close encounter. The Russian repeatedly frustrated Capriati with the delay of her serve, but the American found the resilience to rise above it to dictate the game in the closing set.
Panova, seeded 32, worried the Australian and French Open champion with her accuracy and length of shot, but Capriati's power, poise and experience saw her through an absorbing match. She will now play Sandrine Testud following the Frenchwoman's 6-7 6-2 6-2 victory over Ai Sugiyama of Japan.
Serena Williams joined sister Venus in the fourth round with a convincing straight sets win over Emmanuelle Gagliardi today. The fifth seeded American won 6-1 6-2 in 49 minutes to set up a last 16 clash against 12th seeded Bulgarian Magdalena Maleeva. Williams, beaten by Venus in the semi-finals last year, always had too much for her Swiss opponent, unseeded here and ranked 96th in the world.
Filed by Shane Murray
