In a fast-paced third round contest against the tall and rangy Russian, Capriati was able to gain control of the center of the court and move Bovina around with her vaunted crosscourt game.

But in the second set, Bovina began to serve and return with much more gusto and blew the 2001 champion off the court in rapid-fire rallies. Bovina stunned Capriati by moving out to a 5-0 lead, but the American clawed her way back into the contest by varying the pace and depth of her shots. Yet Capriati handed Bovina the set by missing a sitter inside-out forehand.

Capriati regained her stride in the third set and broke Bovina to go ahead 3-1, but errors began to creep into her game and she double faulted to hand Bovina the break back to 3-2.

The 21-year-old Bovina – who reached a career high ranking of No16 a year ago – has struggled to find consistency this year, reaching only one quarter final. While she has the power of a top 10 player, she is often inconsistent at crunch time and her mental fragility showed when she committed two backhand errors to give Capriati a break to 5-3.

However, with Capriati’s sporadic serve wavering, Bovina attacked and broke right back with a forehand winner down the line.

But in the next game, Capriati showed the champion’s mettle that has brought her to three Grand Slam titles, and crushed a hooking crosscourt forehand winner to win the contest.