Rafael Nadal plays in his first match since the US Open title Thursday in Bangkok.

“Winning today, I’d have to say that was probably one of the best moments of my life,” Capra said. “This whole experience has been unreal, and I’m so happy.”

Another former No. 1 struggled when No. 4-seeded Jelena Jankovic, the runner-up in New York two years ago, had to come from a set down to defeat the newly-breast-reduced Romanian, 18-year-old Simona Halep 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

The development was that Montreal’s star power suddenly began to dip with all the pull-outs, and Lapierre came back to Ivanovic with the wildcard offer — which she promptly told him, in so many words, to stick up his ass.

Loaded non-seeded field with former No. 1s Ivanovic and Safina, and former No. 2 Kuznetsova unseeded; first-round match-ups of interest are (6) Bartoli vs. Hantuchova, (7) Peer vs. (WC) Ivanovic, (8) Wickmayer vs. Kuznetsova, and potential second-round match-ups after seeded byes (1) Jankovic vs. Rezai and Stosur vs. Azarenka or Oudin

Seeds: Jelena Jankovic, Petra Kvitova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Sara Errani, Dominika Cibulkova, Vera Dushevina, Polona Hercog, Sofia Arvidsson

“She’s been playing really well, won a tournament last week,” said Williams of Makarova, showing the gulf between the top players and the lower echelon. “I think the grass suits her game. She hits it low and has a good serve. You know, I was very happy to get off to a good start and then to close it out at the end.”

“They have strawberries on them, too,” Serena said in response to the question, or rather a statement, that her nails looked good. “If I would have thought about it, I would have put a strawberry instead of a heart. They’re hearts. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. I could have had a strawberry.”

“Tina Turner? I love her,” said Williams on the inspiration for her outfit. “I love Tina Turner. Obviously, she’s just an amazing, amazing artist, just a survivor. She reinvented herself. Plus she looks great. I’ve loved her forever. So the dress is really inspired by her.”

In the final Stosur will face Francesca Schiavone, the first Italian woman to reach a Grand Slam final, who advanced to the championship match when opponent Elena Dementieva retired after the first set with a calf muscle injury.