Capriati advances to U.S. Open semis

Second seed Jennifer Capriati moved within two wins of her third Grand Slam title of the year with a 6-3 6-4 quarter-final victory over eighth seed Amelie Mauresmo of France at the U.S. Open on Wednesday night.

The Australian and French Open champion captured the last women's semifinal berth, advancing to the final four without losing a set in her first five matches.

In Friday's semifinal, Capriati will take on fourth seed and defending champion Venus Williams, a 6-3 6-1 winner over fifth-seeded Belgian Kim Clijsters earlier on Wednesday.

"It's going to be pretty tough," said Capriati, who has lost her three previous encounters with Venus, including two earlier this year on hardcourt.

"She's been playing well but I've been playing well so hopefully I can come out and play my best tennis," said Capriati, who has a chance to overtake Martina Hingis as world number one if she gets one round further than the top seed.

Friday's match will mark Capriati's first trip to the U.S. Open semifinals since 1991, when as a 15-year-old she got within two points of the final before falling in a third-set tiebreak to a 17-year-old Monica Seles.

The other women's semifinal pits 1997 champion Hingis against 10th seed and 1999 U.S. Open winner Serena Williams.

Capriati outslugged Mauresmo, keeping the Frenchwoman pinned deep behind the baseline for much of the match, and broke the eighth seed's serve three times while saving all three break points she faced on her own delivery.

From 3-3 in the opening set, Capriati won the next four games, breaking Mauresmo in the seventh and ninth games to take the first set.

Mauresmo, playing her first Grand Slam quarter-final since the 1999 Australian Open when she reached the final, saved two break points in the second game of the second set, holding serve to stop the string and level the set at 1-1.

The set stayed even until the 10th game, when Mauresmo fell behind 15-40 while serving to stay in the match.

She saved one set point with a service winner but dumped a forehand into the net on the next to give Capriati the match in 63 minutes.

"I just was aggressive the whole time and I think I was pretty concentrated and focused," said Capriati, who knew full well her match was a prelude to the main event -- a men's quarter-final between four times U.S. Open winner Pete Sampras and twice champion Andre Agassi.

"I just knew everyone wanted to see the next match so I tried to make it as fast as I could," joked Capriati.