AFP
London, June 26

American Jennifer Capriati, the third seed, advanced to the third round of Wimbledon here on Wednesday and backed the idea that the All England Club pay women the same prize money as men.

The Australian Open champion came away a 6-2, 6-1 winner against Spaniard Marta Marrero in 50 minutes as the men's seeds tumbled with former champions Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras losing out, along with second seed Marat Safin.

The men's champion earns 525,000 pounds (801,000 dollars) at the All England Club compared to 468,000 pounds (714,000 dollars) for the female champion, with the argument often being put forward that the men have to play over five sets, instead of three.

"Oh absolutely. It would be great," said Capriati of getting equal money at Wimbledon as at the US Open. "I think we'd really appreciate it and it would show the organisers and the directors really appreciate our game.

"There are just so many arguments behind it. I just couldn't really get into it."

As far as entertainment value there have been few surprises in the women's event so far with second seed Serena Williams of the United States having few problems against Italy's Francesca Schiavone whom she dispatched 6-3, 6-3 in 67 minutes.

The top women's seed to tumble was France's Sandrine Testud, the eight seed, at the hands of countrywoman Mary Pierce.

Capriati, who has amassed over seven million dollars in prize money during her career, will meet Daja Bedanova of the Czech Republic in the next round and feels confident of challenging for her fourth Grand Slam here.

"I think there's going to be lots of tough matches left before the second week. And I think even my next match is going to be pretty tough," she said.

"I'm playing doubles also, so I don't want many tough early rounds.

"I was able to be quite aggressive with my groundstrokes and I think I served pretty well," she said. "I made a few stupid errors, but besides that I was okay."