By Chris Davies
February 19 2003

Jennifer Capriati beat Svetlana Kuznetsova to win her first match of the year and reach the quarter-finals of the Dubai Open on Wednesday. The American took just 61 minutes to win 6-2, 6-1, but top seed Justine Henin-Hardenne was stretched to the limit by German qualifier Anca Barna before edging through 1-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Sixth seed Patty Schnyder retired with a back strain after dropping the first set 6-1 to Lina Krasnoroutskaya, and eighth seed Eleni Daniilidou was beaten 6-4, 6-7, 6-2 by Spanish veteran Conchita Martinez.

Capriati, who in November underwent eye surgery to remove sunspots, made a disastrous attempt in Australia last month, the defending Australian Open champion suffering a shock first round defeat.

She blamed a lack of preparation then, but she managed to take the break she has missed out on at the end of last season and now the hunger is back.

Capriati who hasn't won a match all seaseon was relieved to get a win under her belt, especially in such a comprehensive manner.

"It's really nice to get a win. It feels really good," she said. "I was just happy to get through. It's a good confidence booster. No matter what the score or whether I won or lost, I can feel my strokes are good out there."

Henin-Hardenne struggled to shake off a determined challenge from German left-hander Barna, who had the benefit of having already played four matches in Dubai.
She was the more consistent player in the first set, and went up a break in the third before Henin-Hardenne rallied and closed out the match by winning the last eight points.

"When I lost the first set I just tried to stay focussed and thought what I had to do," said Henin-Hardenne.

"That was to be aggressive and not let her play the way she likes to play, which is to run and play a lot of rallies. I had to wake up and I did. I played a bad game when she broke me in the third set, but in the last game I made some good returns and did what I had to do."

Amelie Mauresmo also struggled to find her form against Hungarian Petra Mandula ranked 97th in the world, but came through in a third set tie break winning 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4). Mauresmo struggled to hit top form misplacing balls all around the court but changed her tactics when she needed to. Being down a break in the final set the French woman started to take the pace of the ball which appeared tricky for Mandula to control forcing her to commit errors and Mauresmo to comeback and claim victory.

5 Myskina bt
Tanasugarn
6-3, 6-2

2 Mauresmo bt
Q Mandula
6-2, 2-6, 7-6

Tulyaganova bt
7 Maleeva
7-6, 7-5

3 Capriati bt
Kuznetsova
6-2, 6-1

Martinez bt
8 Daniilidou
6-4, 6-7, 6-2

1 Henin-Hardenne bt
Q An.Barna
1-6, 6-2, 6-4

Krasnoroutskaya bt
6 Schnyder
6-1 rt