But in the end, what earned Williams the winner's cheque of $178,000 (U.S) were her literal strengths: blasting merciless serves at Capriati, ripping monstrous returns and, somehow, taming the power fuelling her attacks from the baseline to enjoy precision placement.
Williams also became the first African-American athlete, male or female, to win the Canadian event.
"That's really special," said the teenager, who in last year's tournament final in Montreal retired in the third set with a foot injury to give Switzerland's Martina Hingis the title.
"Hopefully, with this we'll get some more minority children to start playing tennis, because tennis is a really fun sport."
While this final was no classic—there were moments of suspect attentiveness from both players—it was a significant triumph for Williams as the U.S. Open looms since she'd already lost to Capriati at Wimbledon and the French Open this year. And though the playful Williams is sometimes prone to exaggeration (i.e. claiming her new trimness has her wearing size 6 clothes on a 5-foot-10 frame that carries 145 pounds), she said she expects to be twice as lethal at the U.S. Open.
"Right now I'm at about 50 percent," she said, estimating the state of her game going into Flushing Meadows, N.Y., a week from now ranked No. 10 in the world.
"I think my forehand could be a lot better, my backhand could be a lot better and I made a few errors on my serves. And my returns are definitely getting better.
"But overall, I can really do a ton of improvement. And that's what's always been great about me—I can always improve."
Capriati readily agreed that Williams was a superior opponent to the one she knocked out in both grand slam quarter finals.
"I did notice that she didn't slow down at all or... acted sick—that wasn't in the play today," said Capriati, who today will overtake compatriot Lindsay Davenport for the world's No. 2 ranking in time for Wednesday's U.S. Open draw. She earned $91,000 as runner-up.
"She was just constantly the same player out there and maybe that was the difference," the New York native continued. "Before, maybe it was more a little dramatic in the other matches (Williams blamed her Wimbledon loss on a stomach ailment, which Capriati didn't believe)... but other than that, she played well today and she served well today."
Though neither woman was efficient on their first serves (Williams fired at 57 per cent with Capriati at 55), Williams aced her opponent 11 times, with two of those coming in the game's final match at 181 km/h. At match point, Capriati blasted a forehand return into the net, unable to retrieve the ball hit at her at 178 km/h...
