Martina Helps Seles Retain Her Perspective : Tennis: She beats teen-ager, who will be ranked No. 1 in the world next week, for title at Palm Springs.

Who can stop Monica Seles?

Until Monday, nobody. That included the city’s police department, which might be interested to know that Seles drove a car all last week even though she doesn’t have a driver’s license.

Seles finally got pulled over all right, but by Martina Navratilova, who interrupted Seles’ cruise toward No. 1 in the computer rankings with a 6-2, 7-6 (8-6) victory in the delayed final of the water-logged Virginia Slims of Palm Springs.

Actually, it was something less than a crushing defeat for Seles, 17, who is going to have to wait a week for the No. 1 ranking. Seles has already clinched No. 1, replacing Steffi Graf, no matter what Graf accomplishes in this week’s tournament in Boca Raton, Fla.

Perhaps for that reason, Seles was still smiling even though she had lost.

“It’s OK,” Seles said. “It’s not going to make any difference. It’s already happened (but) it’s next week now. Not winning the tournament, that’s bothering me.”

What’s next for Navratilova? A 10th Wimbledon title, perhaps?

“Skiing,” Navratilova said, preparing to return to her home in Aspen, Colo.

All in all, it was something less than an all-out, record-breaking day.

Navratilova won her 154th title, three short of Chris Evert’s record.

And even though she lost, Seles still assured herself of becoming the youngest No. 1 in women’s tennis by exactly 17 days--breaking Tracy Austin’s 11-year-old record.

Seles fell behind, 3-0, in the first set, at which time she made a quick mental note: “I knew the set was gone.”

There were more problems. Seles went through four rackets, trying to find the one with the right tension to knock the ball back farther than the service line, and never seemed completely comfortable pounding her two-fisted ground strokes.

“I let Martina attack too many times with my short shots,” Seles said.

At the same time, Navratilova appeared completely at home on the semi-slow concrete court of Bono’s Racket Club. She began quickly, winning the first set in 23 minutes, then withstood a flurry of set points and three service breaks to close out the match in a high-speed tiebreaker.

There were six breaks in all in the second set, but Navratilova avoided the most critical one when she served at 5-6, preventing a third set. Seles held five set points in that 12th game and glumly watched Navratilova save each one.

“You just can’t do that against a player like Martina,” Seles said.

In the tiebreaker, Seles forged a 6-5 lead only to be looking at a match point after a volley winner and an ace by Navratilova, her fifth.

After 1 hour 18 minutes, Navratilova ended the match with the last in a series of cross-court volley winners, sending the ball scooting into the open court.

Afterward, Seles, praised the No. 3-ranked Navratilova.

“If she keeps playing like she did, definitely she can be No. 1 again,” Seles said. “A lot depends on the Grand Slams, but Steffi, Martina, Sabatini, they all have a chance.”

Her chance probably depends more on her stamina and mental toughness than her game, said Navratilova, but thanks just the same. And why not?

“I beat the player who will be No. 1 in a week,” Navratilova said.

Meanwhile, Seles made plans to return to Sarasota, Fla., where she lives with her family. Next week, she might even take her driver’s test, she said.

How long she remains No. 1 doesn’t really matter, Seles said.

“I always thought before that if I didn’t make it, I’ll be a fluke or whatever they call hotshots,” Seles said.

“But even if I only stay there a week, which would be the shortest No. 1 in the world, at least I will have been No. 1 once.”

But not until next week.