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NEW YORK -- She is cute and bubbly. She is overly polite, and even a little awkward about it. She's a teenager from small town America.
"Very small and dull,'' she said.
Have you written any inspirational words on your shoes? "Not yet,'' she said.
Well then Beatrice Capra (pictured above) is not quite the next Melanie Oudin yet. But the machine is cranking up, getting ready.
Capra beat Aravane Rezai, the 18th seed, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 in the second round of the U.S. Open Thursday. She is in her first big-league tournament, and now she's in the final 32, facing Maria Sharapova next.
Tell us your life story, please.
That was the first question she faced from reporters afterward.
There is something wrong about this. Oudin was eliminated just one day earlier, and talked about feeling trapped and overwhelmed by the hype that came with the run to the quarterfinals last year, when she was the It Girl. Everywhere she went for the past year, people expected her to yell "Cmon!'' and chop down large Russian players, the way she did at Flushing Meadows last year.
But she was in over her head, and needed to go back to being an 18-year old, trying to work on her game.
When she left the court after losing in the second round of this year's Open, Oudin told her coach, Brian de Villiers, that she had let everyone down. De Villiers later told me that no 18-year old could have been in her position and be expected to know how to handle it.
You felt bad for her, realized she had been chewed up and spit out. And then, just after the door closed behind her ... Next.
Capra is two wins away from getting as far as Oudin did.
We're desperate. For some reason, we love these Teen Sensation stories, always looking for the next It Girl, usually in figure skating, gymnastics, tennis. Something fresh, something new, something giggling. Usually something blonde.
Evert, Austin, Oudin. The beast must be fed.
Capra is brunette. And I'm not sure I've seen her giggle. But they call her Treacy, sounds like Treecy. Isn't that cute and close enough?
Back to this life story thing. She obliged, talking about her father: "He's from Monza (Italy)," she said. "And he came over to start his business in America. ... While he was there in Maryland, my mom taught tennis lessons. He wanted to take tennis lessons, so they met up and here I am."
That doesn't sound like any tennis lesson I ever took. But whatever.
Capra, who's 18, is from Ellicott City, Md., and ellicottcity.net points out that Ye Haunted History of Olde Ellicott City is Sept. 3. Unfortunately, Mother Goose Story Time finished up earlier this week.
And to think, Capra called it dull.
"It's a lot of farmland," she said, "and there's really not much around."
It's way too early to put Capra in the It Girl category, and she isn't likely to beat Sharapova. She is not as good as Oudin. But sometimes, the biggest moment can bring out what a person has inside. And a victory over Sharapova would make Capra a star. It did for Oudin.
Did you follow Oudin last year?
"I watched every second of it, yeah,'' she said. "I really look up to Melanie.''
Capra's life story includes another It Girl, too. She is training now under Chris Evert at Evert's Academy in Florida. Perfect for the story line that she will face, about a perfect teenager from a perfect town. God knows what her life is really like. Worry about that later.
First, build her up, and then ...
Just a few weeks ago, she had no intention, or invitation, to play here. She lost in junior nationals and decided to take a few weeks off.
Three days later, she said, she got a call from the United States Tennis Association asking if she would want to play in a small tournament. The prize: a wild card entry into the U.S. Open. So she did it, figuring it would be good practice for the junior U.S. Open.
And you've probably guessed: she won that tournament, and now has won twice at the Open.
Is she the next big thing in tennis?
Let's not get carried away. She is 5-foot-9, which, unlike Oudin, is enough size to do well. She doesn't hit her serve particularly hard, though, and plays mostly on determination. She is still maturing physically.
So there's plenty of time for her develop. But we thought that about Oudin, too.
It's a stretch to pump Capra up too much now. And after watching what it did to Oudin, it might even be a little cruel. Honestly, it makes me nervous for her. But if her handlers didn't want that, then they shouldn't have put her on the world stage.
Meanwhile, the biggest American star, Serena Williams, is out with a foot injury. Oudin is out. And star power is at a premium.
The beast is hungry.
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