Rinaldi Dealt Another Disappointment : Tennis: Former top-10 player falls to Nathalie Tauziat in three sets. Seles begins play tonight.

She rarely makes it to the end of the week any more.

Mondays and Tuesdays are the days when Kathy Rinaldi plays her big tennis matches. By the weekends, the tournaments have moved to the final rounds, and Rinaldi has usually been left behind to work on her game.

This week is no different. Rinaldi opened--and closed--Monday at La Costa in the opening round of the Mazda Tennis Classic, taking sixth-seeded Nathalie Tauziat of France to three sets before losing, 3-6, 6-4, 4-6.

Once, Rinaldi was a prodigy. She became the No. 7-ranked women’s tennis player in the world by the time she was 19.

Now she has moved aside for, among others, a younger generation. No. 1 Monica Seles is 17. No. 10 Jennifer Capriati is 15.

Rinaldi is ranked 70th, and most say her best days are behind her.

She is 24.

You might think, when a player drops from seventh to 70th on the tour in four years, there would be a lot of thrown rackets and frowns.

Rinaldi smiles.

“I’m still in the sevens,” she said.

Seles and Capriati, the top two seeds this week, have yet to play. Seles will play Pam Shriver, who defeated England’s Jo Durie Monday night, 6-3, 6-4, tonight at 7. Capriati will not play until Wednesday.

Rinaldi? Well, she has a doubles match this morning. And at 6 tonight, she will co-host a clinic for underprivileged children from Chula Vista.

Ask her if she isn’t a little envious of the younger Seles and Capriati, who are in territory familiar to Rinaldi, and she quickly says no.

“I’m really not,” Rinaldi said. “I’m really very happy with my career.

“I feel very fortunate. I’ve accomplished a lot of things that a lot of 14-year-olds haven’t. And some people will come along and beat (their) records. I think that if you’re happy with yourself . . .”

And youth is not always served in tennis, she pointed out.

“Martina (Navratilova) peaked later, Chrissie (Evert) peaked later, and so did Zina (Garrison),” she said. “I can only control myself.”

Sometimes. Her problems started shortly after she peaked in the Women’s Tennis Assn. rankings at seventh in January 1987. On June 10, 1987, she fell down a flight of stairs in a Monte Carlo hotel and bent back her right thumb. It snapped.

So did her game.

She didn’t play again for 1 1/2 years. When she resumed, she got into a few tournaments as a wild-card entry. She slowly began to piece things back together.

In 1989, Rinaldi reached the semifinals of the tournament at Amelia Island, Fla. Since then, she has gotten as far as the quarterfinals in two tournaments. This year, she has won only five of 11 matches.

Monday, she quickly dropped the first set to Tauziat but won 12 of the first 13 points to open the second.

Then, tied at one set apiece, she hung with Tauziat through the first eight games of the third set. She broke Tauziat’s serve to make it 4-4.

And when Rinaldi went ahead in the next game, 30-love, there were fleeting thoughts that she could steal her first career victory against Tauziat in five attempts.

But Tauziat rallied to advance the second round, Wednesday against Alysia May, who Mondaydefeated Nathalie Herreman, 6-3, 6-1.

And Rinaldi was left to dissect her game--starting with her 30-love lead in the ninth game of the third set.

“I missed a forehand and played too cautiously,” she said. “That’s when I should have gone for it. Just a couple of points made a difference.”

Tournament Notes

Miami lawyer Ellis Rubin was at the tournament Monday and said he plans to file suit this morning in San Diego Superior Court against Peter Graf, father of Steffi, and his son, Michael, on behalf of Jim Levee, 52, and his companion Jill Genson, 39, both of Boca Raton, Fla. The purpose of the suit, according to Rubin, is to obtain a restraining order against the Grafs on behalf of Levee and Genson. Levee, who was also at the tournament, claims Peter Graf was abusive and punched him on the top of the head in the players’ lounge at the French Open, and claims Michael Graf was abusive to him at Wimbledon. Steffi Graf is not playing--and never planned to play--in the La Costa tournament this week.

Pam Shriver on tonight’s opponent, Monica Seles, and whether Seles is worthy of her No. 1 ranking: That’s two different questions. I think her play has spoken for itself. She’s far and away the best player in the world. The last month has been a little hectic for Monica and everyone trying to figure out what happened. I think she lost a little credibility.” . . . The biggest upset of the day was unseeded Anne Minter defeating No. 8 Laura Gildemeister, 6-3, 6-4. Gildemeister was upset and said she had no reflexes because she wasn’t allowed enough recovery time after participating in the semifinals of a tournament in Westchester, N.Y., last week. Gildemeister didn’t want to play her first match this week until today. . . . Sunday night, at a benefit auction at La Costa, Seles made the winning bid for dinner with Dodger Manager Tommy Lasorda, and his wife, Jo. The winning bid? $2,750.

Today’s Highlights

Center Court, 11 a.m.: Karine Quentrec vs. Claudia Kohde-Kilsch; followed by Akiko Kijimuta vs. Jessica Emmons; followed by Naoko Sawamatsu vs. Lori McNeil; followed by Anne Minter-Marianne Werdel vs. Laura Gildemeister-Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere.

Court 17, 11 a.m.: Erika DeLone vs. Debbie Graham; followed by Lindsay Davenport-Anne Mall vs. Jill Hetherington-Kathy Rinaldi; followed by Peanut Harper vs. Kimberly Po.

Center Court, 7 p.m.: Monica Seles vs. Pam Shriver; followed by Ros Fairbank-Nideffer-Lise Gregory vs. Jo Durie-Nathalie Herreman.

Site: La Costa Resort and Spa (I-5 to La Costa Ave. exit, east to El Camino Real, left to the facility).

Tickets: For information, call 438-LOVE. Parking is $5.