Capriati Back With Win at WTA Berlin

No. 6 seed Jennifer Capriati got off to a good start at the WTA stop in Berlin Tuesday, easing past German wildcard Julia Schruff 6-3, 6-1.

"She (Schruff)'s a good little player but from the end of the first set I started to play really well," said the 28-year-old Capriati, still maintaining her buffet-style physique, possibly due to a back injury that has limited her through much of 2004.

"I'm extra eager and hungry," Capriati added. Enough said.

Seeds joining Capriati in the winner's circle Tuesday were (5)Nadia Petrova (d. Barna), (9)Vera "Warren" Zvonareva (d. (Q)Perebiynis), (10)Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. (WC)Mikaelian), (13)Patty Schnyder (d. Daniela "The Walking Stick" Hantuchova), and (17)Maria "Grunt-o-rama" Sharapova (d. Safina in three). Only one seed made an exit on Tuesday in (15)Jelena Dokic, schooled by American Meghann Shaughnessy 6-0, 6-3.

Other un-seeds into the second round were Hungarian Petra Mandula (d. (LL)Vakulenko), Barbara "Now I Give a" Schett (d. (LL)Srebotnik), Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga (d. Testud), Argentina's Gisela Dulko (d. (Q)Pastikova), French veteran Nathalie Dechy (d. (Q)Strycova), Croat Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem (d. (WC)Groenefeld), Greece's Eleni Daniilidou (d. (Q)Golovin in three), and Russian Elena Likhovtseva (d. Pierce 7-6 in the third).

On Wednesday's tip the big girls come out to play in Dulko vs. Mauresmo, Clijsters vs. Marrero, Venus vs. Daniilidou, Kostanic vs. Myskina, Dementieva vs. Cohen-Aloro, Mandula vs. Sharapova, Likhovtseva vs. Sugiyama, Schnyder vs. Gagliardi in an all-Swiss, Sanchez Lorenzo vs. Chladkova, Suarez vs. Schett, Zvonareva vs. Zuluaga, Sprem vs. Shaughnessy, Bovina vs. Kuznetsova, and Dechy vs. Smashnova-Pistolesi.