TENNIS WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT AT INDIAN WELLS : Navratilova Doesn’t Waste Her Time in the Sun, Defeats Provis, 6-2, 6-0

After a week in Chicago and a week in Washington, Martina Navratilova’s tour of America arrived in the Coachella Valley Tuesday afternoon.

The result was predictable. Navratilova was tired, Navratilova was hot, Navratilova was off the court after 49 minutes of a sizzling 6-2, 6-0 victory over Nicole Provis in the Virginia Slims of Indian Wells.

So, what was the rush?

“I like to work on my suntan, but I’d rather do it by the pool and not on the court,” Navratilova said.

It didn’t take her long to hit the lounge chair. She served three aces to win the fourth game and level the first set, 2-2, then won the next four games and closed out the set with a drop-dead half-volley.

From then on, she could probably smell the suntan lotion. After Navratilova’s fifth ace, it was 4-0. Provis held a 40-15 lead but lost the fifth game when Navratilova hit a cross-court backhand volley and the ball stopped as if it had lost its compression.

Provis, ranked No. 72, could do nothing to hurt the second-ranked and top-seeded Navratilova, who lost only 10 points on her serve.

“She’s obviously in great form,” the Australian said.

Navratilova said she has never played any better, pointing to her revamped service motion as an example.

“I’m hitting over my backhand more now, and my serve is a lot more solid, simple and fluid,” she said.

Concerned that she was using her arm too much, Navratilova changed her serve to employ legs, shoulders and stomach in her motion. She also reverted to her natural, rocking movement to get into her serve, which she had been starting from a motionless position.

As smooth as Navratilova’s second-round victory was, it could not equal fourth-seeded Jana Novotna’s 6-0, 6-0 rout of qualifier Yukie Koizumi.

Second-seeded Conchita Martinez, who has decided to take up golf for recreation, was up to par in her second-round victory over Cammy MacGregor. Martinez needed 53 minutes to win, 6-1, 6-2.

Afterward, Martinez said she has been spending some time on the driving range. “It relaxes me,” she said.

Tennis did nothing to relax third-seeded Helena Sukova, who was playing her first match since the semifinals of the Australian Open and looked like it.

Monique Javer, ranked No. 99 and a dual citizen of Great Britain and the United States, was doubly tough on Sukova, who pulled out a 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-0 victory and was then asked if she felt she had gotten her rough match out of the way early.

“Who knows if the next one will be more difficult?” Sukova said.

Indeed. Sukova made a difficult decision recently, parting with Coach Lada Travnicek. She is now coached by her Czech boyfriend, former motocross racer and gymnast Jaromir Jirik, and her ranking has gone from No. 5 to No. 10.

Tennis Notes

Martina Navratilova’s postmatch news conference was as routine as her match until she was asked if she felt more Czech than American because of the events in her native Czechoslovakia. “Look, I’ve lived here since ’75 and I’ve been a citizen since ‘81,” Navratilova said, her voice rising. “Darn right, I find that question insulting. The only real Americans are the Indians--not even the people who came over on the Mayfair or whatever. I’m a citizen. What am I--chopped liver? I chose to live here. I could not choose where I was born, but I could choose where I live.” . . . Seventh-seeded Larisa Savchenko was upset by Etsuko Inoue, 6-4, 6-1.