By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA

FROM THE WTA CHAMPIONSHIPS IN LA – After taking a brutal 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 two-hour-plus loss to Chanda Rubin, Amelie Mauresmo is significant trouble. After winning Philadelphia, she came into the Bank of the America WTA Championships as one of the four favorites, but against Rubin, played from her heels during most of the third set.

Rubin didn't allow the Frenchwoman to control the net, charging in 53 times to 56 from Mauresmo. She effectively attacked with her two-handed backhand down the line, had fine control of her inside-out forehand and matched Mauresmo serve for serve.

"She had a lot of speed on the ball and she likes to go for deep shots," Mauresmo said. "She can also come in and is not scared to take to opportunity to go to net. Sometimes I was staying too far from the baseline to take control of the points. That was happening more and more as the match went on. You can't play like this and hope to take control."

Even though Rubin owned a 2-1 edge over Mauresmo coming into the match, she certainly didn't have the momentum, failing to advance beyond the quarterfinals of Philly last week when she knew that if she won the tournament, she'd definitely qualified for Championships. Fortunately for the Louisianan, Venus Williams pulled out and gave up her spot.

Mauresmo now has to notch wins over Kim Clijsters, who she has lost four straight times to, and Elena Dementieva, who she is 4-1 against, but who has played her tough in all but one match. It will be a monumental feat but thank god for the round robin format.

"It gives me a second chance to qualify for the semifinals which is very different than what were used to," Mauresmo said. "I going to try to still earn that position."

By the way, Rubin says she can play beat anyone here. She has never beaten Clijsters in six attempts and the two will play on Thursday night.

Venus was chiding her the other night for not stepping up and winning Philly, thereby gaining direct entry into the Championships. She can ease both she and Venus's minds by putting a hurt on Clijsters for the first time.

Jennifer, Kim race ahead to round-robin victories
Jennifer Capriati looked very good in overcoming a strained right hip flexor and Ai Sugiyama 7-5, 7-6 (3) in Black Group round-robin play.

Capriati isn't exactly brimming with fire yet, but at least she's trying to spice up her game. She won't commit to hiring Paul Annacone as her coach just yet, but it sounds like this trial period could turn into a full-time gig if this week goes well.

"I've been planning on doing some changes for the future and he has some great credentials," Capriati said. "At this point, I want to bring out the best in my game. It's good for me to change things up and gets a little different perspective. I just want to look down the road and make sure I did everything I could to better my game."

There's not much to report about Clijsters' 6-2, 6-2  stomping of Dementieva. Clijsters was far more consistent and Elena couldn't penetrate her off the ground. Plus, she couldn't read her serve. Kim cooked her goose in virtually no time – 53 minutes – a lot faster than the time it took her to cook "Indian Chicken with Butter" for boyfriend Lleyton Hewitt, which she said lasted beyond five hours. It was Kim's first big experience in her new kitchen in Belgium. "I told Lleyton we should have just went to Pizza Hut," Clijsters said.

Do they put curry on pizza in Brussels?