Capriati Feels Right at Home on Center Court, Wins, 6-4, 6-4 : French Open: She defeats Judith Wiesner to reach the fourth round.

On a blustery, cloudy Saturday morning, Jennifer Capriati emerged from a tunnel and walked onto Center Court at Roland Garros Stadium, the most famous patch of dirt in tennis.

Then she glanced around. It was Capriati’s first match on the main court of the French Open, the world’s premier clay court tournament, so she wanted to get a good look at the place.

“I just thought, ‘so this is the place where all the great champions have been,’ ” Capriati said. “Like (Bjorn) Borg and (Jimmy) Connors and Chrissie (Evert). Maybe some of the same people who saw them are seeing me.”

There is no question Center Court is a great place for sightseeing, but will Capriati be on display next Saturday when the women’s final is played?

What the crowd saw Saturday was a 14-year-old from Florida who swept into the fourth round, then planned an outing to Notre Dame Cathedral with her 10-year-old brother.

Capriati defeated 24-year-old Austrian Judith Wiesner, 6-4, 6-4, to reach the fourth round, further than any female player so young has gone in a Grand Slam tournament. So after making history, Capriati decided to see some of it.

But before she left the grounds, Capriati paused to sign autographs, instantly creating a mob scene.

Capriati’s victory, which kept her on track for a possible semifinal showdown with second-seeded Monica Seles, also improved her standing among her peers.

If rankings were released today, Capriati would be No. 17 based on reaching the fourth round here.

Capriati said that sounds about right.

“I feel 17,” she said. “I mean 17, the ranking.”

Of course. Wiesner had her own ranking for Capriati: “She’s top 10 now.”

Wiesner, ranked No. 13, said she was impressed by Capriati’s power, not her youth. Capriati tries to hit winners every chance she gets, Wiesner said.

“She goes for every single shot,” Wiesner said. “That’s really the difference between her and the other players.

“I remember when I was 14, you just play differently,” Wiesner said. “It’s just a thing she has. She doesn’t show any nerves.”

Capriati’s fourth-round match today will be against Mercedes Paz, who defeated defending champion Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the second round.

Neither Steffi Graf nor Seles, the two top-seeded players, overwhelmed their third-round opponents. Graf, who has been slowed by sinusitis, beat Sandra Cecchini, 6-2, 6-3.

Seles was extended by Leila Meskhi, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4) after blowing a match point at 5-2.

Afterward, Seles revealed the obvious: “Neither one of us is playing very well.”

Seles’ slump coincides with a dispute with former coach Nick Bollettieri, who claims she left his tennis academy owing him money. Seles disputes Bollettieri’s claim.

Graf changed her medication Friday and said she began to feel better.

“The doctor said it was an allergy,” Graf said. “I got it with the sinuses. I got it pretty bad with the ears.”

Two more Americans reached the fourth round when 19-year-old Ann Grossman of Grove City, Ohio, defeated 17-year-old Kirrily Sharpe of Australia, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1; and Mary Joe Fernandez of Miami defeated Isabel Cueto of West Germany, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2.

Fernandez will play Grossman in a fourth-round match today and Seles will play Laura Gildemeister of Peru.

If Capriati makes any more trips to Center Court this week, she probably won’t be as nervous as she was for her first visit. Wiesner put Capriati on edge at first when she won the coin flip, but chose to allow Capriati to serve first.

Wiesner broke Capriati at 30, taking advantage of four unforced errors. Capriati said she had problems calming down.

“There were a little bit of nerves, I’ll have to admit,” she said. “It was my first time on Center Court and I felt a little tight at the beginning.”

Once she settled into the match, Capriati closed out the first set with a stinging forehand service return down the line. She served for the match at 5-3, but lost her serve at love.

“I thought, ‘Oh, no, just close it out,’ ” Capriati said.

Soon, she did, with the help of a little luck. Capriati, who had two net cord winners in the first set, received a third such gift in the final game, which ended on the first match point.

With Wiesner serving at 30-40, Capriati’s sharp return forced a backhand to sail long, ending Capriati’s Center Court debut. She finished her interviews, signed her autographs, then took off for Notre Dame.

In another week, there is a chance Capriati will be ranked even higher than 17.

“I think maybe I could be in the top 10,” she said. “I feel like I’m a pretty good player. And I could be one of the top players if I just play well.”

With a grunt and a groan, Thomas Muster of Austria arrived in the fourth round and said he now is ready for it to begin.

Pardon?

“I feel like this is two tournaments,” Muster said after beating Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4). “The first week is one tournament, and the second week is another tournament.

“If you see it like this, it is the beginning, a new tournament maybe,” he said.

Many believe this Grand Slam is one that Muster can win, especially since Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker have been eliminated. Muster, a hard-hitting blond who grunts loudly with every swing, does not disagree with anyone picking him.

“If they say it, it’s OK with me,” Muster said. “I feel pretty good and I think I am in good shape. But it is difficult to win a tournament like this. I try not to look ahead, just to the next round.”

And why is that?

“If you lose, the disappointment is not so big,” said Muster, who will play Martin Jaite of Argentina in the fourth round.

Aaron Krickstein’s hopes for the fourth round were dashed by Karel Novacek of Czechoslovakia, who beat the fifth-seeded Michigan native, 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2). Krickstein, who lost to Novacek three weeks ago in Munich, was the last American in the bottom half of the draw.