Thirteen-year-old Jennifer Capriati, the youngest player ever in Wightman Cup competition, shut out her 21-year-old British opponent during the opening day of the annual women's tennis series.
"It was a bit like being in a hurricane," said Clare Wood, who was blanked by Capriati, 6-0, 6-0 Thursday night in the second match of the series. "No matter how I hit the ball it came back harder, wider and longer than anything I could produce."Wood, a member of last year's British Olympic team, scored only 17 points against Capriati in a match that lasted but 42 minutes.
"This is the best match I've had played against me," Wood said.
In the opening match, Lori McNeil of the United States came from behind to win five of the last six games in the first set and the last five games of the second set to defeat Jo Durie of Britain 7-5, 6-1.
The closest Wood came to taking a game from Capriati was in the fourth game of the first set. Wood, ranked 154th in the world, led Capriati 40-15 before the teen-ager from Saddlebrook, Fla., battled back to deuce. Wood had the advantage before Capriati won a point to get to deuce,then went on to win the game.
"Once the 40-15 game got away from her, the handwriting was on the wall," British coach Ann Jones said.
"This is one of the better matches I've played," said Capriati, winner of the French Open Junior championship and the U.S. Open Junior singles and doubles championships earlier this year. "I wasn't dissatisfied with any part of my game tonight."
In the first match, McNeil trailed 4-2 in the first set before breaking Durie's service three straight times.
In the second set, the 26-year-old McNeil, of San Diego, had two service breaks and Durie managed only once to get to break point.