Capriati pulls through in Kloten

Capriati had to work hard in her first match as world number one Keystone

Wednesday's action at the Swisscom Challenge in Kloten saw the tournament favourites re-assert their authority.

Following the extraordinary first round exploits of Swiss outsider Marie-Gaïané Mikaelian on Tuesday, normality returned to the tournament on Wednesday with American stars Jennifer Capriati and Lindsay Davenport both progressing to the quarter-finals.

Playing in her first singles match since taking over from Martina Hingis as world number one, Capriati was far from convincing against Russian world number 46 Nadia Petrova.

But after conceding the second set, Capriati fought back to clinch a three sets (6-3, 3-6, 6-2) victory.

Lost concentration

“I played pretty well under the circumstances,” Capriati insisted. “Going out there as the new No. 1, I was still able to put it out of my mind and play my game. She played tough and I lost my concentration and let it go at the end of the second set but pulled it back together pretty well in the third.”

The former child prodigy could now face Switzerland’s latest young hope in the quarter-finals, if Mikaelian can first see off another Russian, Tatiana Panova, in Thursday’s second round action.

Davenport had less difficulty booking her quarter-final place on Wednesday thanks to a straight sets win over South Africa’s Amanda Coetzer. Having stormed the first set 6-3 before moving into a 5-3 lead in the second, the world number three had to fight off a late Coetzer revival before eventually winning through 6-3, 6-4.

There were further straight sets victories for French fifth seed Nathalie Tauziat and Italian eighth seed Silvia Farina Elia, who both won 6-2, 6-4 in their respective matches against Iroda Tulyaganova and Lisa Raymond.

swissinfo with agencies