Jennifer Capriati dethroned grass-court queen Martina Navratilova 6-4, 7-5 today in a Wimbledon quarterfinal offering a contrast of generations and styles.
Andre Agassi and Boris Becker made it to the quarterfinals and John McEnroe was slugged with a $10,000 fine for cursing an official.But Capriati, a 15-year-old Florida schoolgirl, made the biggest news byt becoming the youngest women's semifinalist in Wimbledon history. She defeated Navratilova, a nine-time champion, in the completion of a match halted Tuesday by rain.
Capriati, who rallied from a break down in the second set, was less than four months old when Navratilova reached her first Wimbledon semifinal in 1976.
"There was no pressure on me, no one expected me to win," Capriati said. "Today I just went out there and just went for it. I had no nerves. She had everything to lose. At the end I was getting the chills, I couldn't believe it."
The match ended on the fourth double fault by Navratilova, who served poorly throughout the match. The defending champion was never able to impose her serve-and-volley game on Capriati, a natural baseliner who boomed groundstrokes past Navratilova.
"She was returning so well, I was on my heels. I was so afraid of her return I was double faulting," Navratilova said. "I know how she plays, I know her tendencies, but when somebody busts the ball by you there's nothing you can do."
Capriati is the only person other than Steffi Graf to win a Wimbledon match against Navratilova in a decade. Navratilova's defeat was only her 10th in 113 Wimbledon singles matches over 18 years.
"I thought it was important to return well. I tried to keep attacking her, especially on the second serve," Capriati said. "I made her stay back on the second serve and she wasn't serve and volleying."
Navratilova, who holds the Wimbledon records for titles, victories and matches played, said she could not overcome nervousness during the match.
"The pressure builds up the older you get, you know you don't have many more years left," said Navratilova, who had not lost before the semifinals since 1977. "Of course experience counts for something, but I didn't make it count today."
Ninth seed Capriati advanced to a semifinal match against second seed Gabriela Sabatini, who finished off a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Laura Gildemeister today. Sabatini was leading 6-2, 1-0 when the rain struck Tuesday.
"Jennifer has a great return of serve and she's got good passing shots and she feels very confident," Sabatini said. "I know I'll have to serve very well tomorrow."
Agassi, the fifth seed, advanced with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Jacco Eltingh, and next will play fellow American David Wheaton.
Becker struggled into the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-7, 6-1, 7-6 victory over Christian Bergstrom during which he raged at his own mistakes and repeatedly complained about line calls.
McEnroe was fined a day after he had directed a stream of profanities at a linesman during his fourth-round loss to Stefan Edberg 7-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Few fans at the match could hear him, but a TV microphone picked up the tirade and it was broadcast - with the offending words bleeped out - throughout Britain on Tuesday.
A tape of the incident was sent to Wimbledon referee Alan Mills, who decided Wednesday to fine McEnroe.