Palo Alto, July 27: Jennifer Capriati has beaten Maria Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela to reach the final of the West Classic tennis tournmanet in the United States. Third seed Jennifer Capriati battled past qualifier Maria Vento-Kabchi 6-4 6-4 to advance for her first $685,000 Bank of the West Classic final on Saturday (July 26). On a bright and hot day at Stanford University, the 26-year-old Capriati delivered and all-court attack to fend off the 29-year-old Vento-Kabchi, who had reached her first career Tier II semifinal. Capriati hit 27 winners in the one-hour, 13-minute contest to only 16 from Vento, including 13 forehand winners. Vento-Kabchi tried in vain to move Capriati around the court and trip her up with sharply angled balls, but the American was much faster than the Venezuelan, ranked 132 in the world. Capriati booked a place in her first final since March, when she lost the Nasdaq-100 final to top-ranked Serena Williams. The 27 year-old American, bidding to win her first title in 18 months, would face the winner of the second semifinal between second seed Kim Clijsters of Belgium and Francesca Schiavone of Italy.


Semi-final results from the $635,000 WTA Bank of the West Classic on Saturday (prefix number denotes seeding): 3-Jennifer Capriati (U.S.) beat Maria Vento-Kabchi (Venezuela) 6-4 6-4 Playing later: 2-Kim Clijsters (Belgium) v Francesa Schiavone (Italy)


Bureau Report