Capriati overpowers teenager in San Diego

Jennifer Capriati, in her first match since losing in the Wimbledon quarter-finals, brushed aside fellow American Ashley Harkleroad 6-0, 6-4 in the second round of the $750,000 Acura Classic on Tuesday.

Second seed Capriati was joined in the third round at the La Costa Resort and Spa by sixth seed Jelena Dokic of Yugoslavia, No. 8 Elena Dementieva of Russia, No. 9 Anastasia Myskina of Russia, No. 12 Anna Smashnova of Israel, No. 14 Chanda Rubin of the U.S. and unseeded Russian Anna Kournikova.

Capriati was vicious with her groundstrokes against 17-year-old Harkleroad, overpowering her smaller opponent with big shots into the corners of the court and pouncing on her second serves.

"She started out hitting winners from everywhere," said Harkleroad, the 2002 French Open junior finalist. "I guess when you are ranked number three (in the world) and have three grand slam titles, that's what you do."

After losing a classic three-set French Open semi-final to eventual champion Serena Williams and then falling in straight sets to Amelie Mauresmo at Wimbledon, the reigning Australian Open champion took a week off and then hit the practice courts.

"I didn't play too badly in those two losses but there are definitely things I can do better," said Capriati, 26.

"I needed some time off to improve my fitness and recover. I could be a little quicker and more aggressive. I want to win again. It's been a while.

"I still have the variety and execution, there just are certain things on the mental side I need to improve on," said Capriati.

MORE AGGRESSIVE

"In the close matches against elite players, I need to close it out better and be more aggressive. I could also work on that by winning my early round matches with an exclamation point."

Despite the fact that world No. 1 Serena Williams has won five titles this year (including the French Open and Wimbledon), and has beaten her three times in 2002, Capriati refuses to concede that she is an inferior player.

"I don't think so," said the American. "Everyone has a good run and she's on a hot streak. But my matches against her have been so close. You have to win everything to be dominant, like Martina Hingis once did. Serena hasn't.

"It's hard for me to call Serena dominant when I feel like I should have won every match against her."

Kournikova's attempt to re-establish herself as an elite player continued when the Russian destroyed 30th-ranked American Alexandra Stevenson 6-0, 6-1.

The 47th-ranked Kournikova completely controlled the centre of the court and make light of Stevenson's huge first serve.

"I played almost perfect," said Kournikova, who reached the quarter-finals of the Bank of the West Classic last week but was forced to pull out of her doubles semi-final there with a strained abdominal muscle.

"It was really important to get ahead of her early and not give her any room to breathe. I returned serve unbelievably well and felt really confident going for my shots."

Dokic gave a hard-hitting performance to beat Gala Leon Garcia 6-2, 7-5.

"I was really disappointed in the way I played last week," said the 19-year-old Yugoslav referring to her quarter-final defeat by Lindsay Davenport at the Bank of the West Classic.

"I felt a lot better physically today," said Dokic, who reached a career high ranking of No. 5 this week.

"I'm really happy with the ranking," said Dokic, who has won two titles this year and reached the quarter-finals of the French Open. "It's shows what can happen if you work hard. Now I am going to have to work harder to stay there."

In the next round she will play Myskina, a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 winner over Italy's Francesca Schiavone.

Dementieva beat Argentine Paola Suarez 6-4, 6-2 and now meets Smashnova, who triumphed 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 over American Marissa Irvin. Rubin trounced South African Amanda Coetzer 6-1, 6-1.

Top seed Venus Williams will play her opening match against Slovakian Janette Husarova on Wednesday.