Manhattan Beach Tennis : Frazier Puts Lights Out on Shriver

For 15-year-old Amy Frazier, the confusing part about Tuesday night didn’t come on the tennis court against No. 4-ranked Pam Shriver, rather, it came after the teen-ager recorded the biggest victory of her career.

Frazier, playing a match under the lights for only the second time, stunned the second-seeded Shriver, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, in the second round of the $300,000 Virginia Slims of Los Angeles on Tuesday night at the Manhattan Country Club in Manhattan Beach.

Shriver, who is 11 years older than the No. 119-ranked Frazier, squandered a 5-3 lead in the third set. She was ahead by two service breaks before Frazier started her comeback. At 5-4, 30-0, Shriver was only two points from winning the match on her serve. However, Frazier hit a sharp, crosscourt forehand return for a winner, which gave her the chance to stay in the match.

That, Shriver said, was the biggest point of the match. Or, more precisely, it was what cost her the victory.

“If she didn’t hit it the way she did for a winner, she would have been way out of the court,” Shriver said. “It would have been 40-0 and that would have been the match.”

Frazier is an aggressive baseline player who shows little emotion after hitting a winner or making an error. For her, coming into the interview room was more difficult than playing Shriver. First, she didn’t know where to sit, and, handling the mikes also proved to be kind of tricky.

“I just went out and played,” said Frazier, who is from Rochester, Mich. “She had all the pressure on her. When I broke her in the first game of the second set, it started to go through my mind that I could win.”

For Frazier, simply winning this summer has been a difficult proposition. Including the victory over Shriver, she has only won three matches. In fact, Frazier lost in the first round of the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon in 1988.

And, her biggest victory before Shriver?

Oh, yes, over that household name, Isabel Cueto.

Tennis Notes

It had to happen department: The newly married Chris Evert was playing doubles on Tuesday with Wendy Turnbull and they were ready to polish off a first-round victory. As Evert and Turnbull walked over to sit down on the changeover, chair umpire David J. McLean said: “Game Evert Lloyd.” He quickly corrected himself, saying, “Evert/Turnbull leads five games to two.” The crowd laughed. Evert, too, laughed as she tapped McLean with her racket. McLean would have been right with the call, about a year and a half ago. Evert divorced John Lloyd in the spring of 1987 and married former Olympic skier Andy Mill last month.

There were no other major upsets Tuesday as No. 4 Lori McNeil, No. 6 Patty Fendick, No. 7 Anne Minter, No. 10 Dianne Balestrat and No. 14 Sara Gomer all advanced. Gomer, a 24-year-old from England, had one of the toughest matches of the seeded players, a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 second-round victory over countrywoman Jo Durie. McNeil, too, needed three sets to win. Today’s featured matches, all second round, include No. 1 Evert vs. Eva Pfaff (at 7 p.m); No. 5 Zina Garrison vs. Monique Javer and No. 8 Stephanie Rehe vs. Ann Henricksson.