Dancing defiantly near the service line, her sneakers squeaking on the hardcourt surface, Jennifer Capriati issued the noisy second-serve challenge at the U.S. Open.
Here I am, it said. Hit the ball and let's see what happens.Gabriela Sabatini tried Tuesday night. Oh, did she try. The defending champion could not respond, though, committing six double faults as Capriati vaulted into the semifinals with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-1) victory.
What was all that jumping around about? Was it just the exuberance of your average 15-year-old who has won almost $365,000 this year?
"I wasn't planning, you know, on being obnoxious or annoying or anything like that," Capriati said. "It was just that I wanted to intimidate her a little bit, show her that I was going to attack her serve. And I think I did, because she made a couple of double faults."
Sabatini said she heard the sneaker serenade but did not blame it for her second-serve blues.
"That is not the reason I did the double faults," she said. "I didn't play well. I made too many errors. A couple of moments, I wasn't there mentally. I wasn't strong enough to win those points."
Still, Sabatini did not surrender her title without a fight. She twice broke Capriati as Jennifer served for the match, forcing the tiebreaker. But she was no match for Capriati in the extra session, winning just one point.
Was the ex-champ impressed?
"Jennifer is playing very well," Sabatini said. "She has the mentality to win the tournament."
And maybe the right tactic, as well.
Capriati has used the sneaker squeak successfully before, most notably against Martina Navratilova, whom she beat at Wimbledon.
That victory seemed to thrust her to another level. She has played dominating tennis ever since and for the first time, she feels capable of winning a Grand Slam event.
"I've come close," Capriati said, recalling a semifinal berth at the French Open in 1990 and the semis again this year at Wimbledon, where she lost to Sabatini. "Now I want to go all the way. Winning this would mean the world."
Next, she'll play second-seeded Monica Seles, who advanced easily with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Gigi Fernandez. The have played three times before with Seles winning the first two and Capriati taking the last one in San Diego.
Both Seles and Capriati have played dominating tennis in the Open. Seles has been broken just four times in 41 service games and lost just one set in her first five matches. Capriati has won each of her matches in straight sets.
Seles was on top of her game against Fernandez, needing just 53 minutes to seal the victory.
But Seles brings other weapons to the war, according to Fernandez.
"She has an unbelievable mind, very tenacious, fighting and thinking," she said. "She is a very smart player and she keeps coming at you."
Seles said that frame of mind was vital to her success on the court.
Being able to hit devastating groundstrokes doesn't hurt, either.
Now the question is how will she handle Capriati's sneaker serenade?