Martinez Cruises to Semis : Tennis: World’s seventh-ranked player hasn’t gained much of the spotlight, but she takes care of business.

Her groundstrokes flowed off her racquet more fluidly than the English did off her tongue.

But luckily for Spain’s Conchita Martinez, tennis is an international language, and Friday at La Costa Resort and Spa, nothing was lost in the translation.

Martinez, the second-seeded player in the Mazda Tennis Classic, cruised to a 6-0, 7-5 victory against defending NCAA singles champion Debbie Graham of Fountain Valley.

Conchita who, you ask?

In a tournament and a game where so much attention has been paid to young and restless Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati, Martinez, 19, has gone about her business without raising an eyebrow.

Yet Martinez, of Barcelona, is the seventh-ranked player in the world, ranked higher than Capriati (No. 10)--her opponent in today’s 12:30 semifinal--and Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere (No. 9)--a finalist here last year.

“Some get more attention and others not as much,” Martinez said of her relative obscurity. “I do not know why.”

Part of Martinez’ anonymity can be traced to the success of fellow Spaniard Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, the world’s fourth-ranked player who in 1989 won a Grand Slam event, the French Open, and has received the bulk of publicity.

“We both are different. She is No. 4 and I am 7,” she said. “You must know (why) because you’re one of the (journalists).”

Back home, she gets her share of the media spotlight.

“In Spain, it is OK,” she said.

Martinez’s quest for a Grand Slam victory is made more difficult by her distaste for natural turf. Since joining the tour in 1988, she has nixed Wimbledon four consecutive years.

“I don’t like to play grass; it’s not my favorite,” said Martinez, who acknowledged that repercussions of her recent coaching change kept her from England this year but that she would be there next summer.

What helps Martinez maintain her top-10 ranking--something she has done pretty regularly since 1989, a year after she turned pro--is tournament consistency and a ton of topspin.

She already has won two tournaments this year, the International Championships of Spain and the Austrian Open, the latter on July 21. Her record this year is 23-5, and her worst finish in her seven 1991 events she’s played was in the Virginia Slims of Florida in March, where she lost in the round of 32.

On clay courts, which are her specialty, she has done no worse than the quarterfinals, and that was in the French Open, where she lost 6-0, 7-5 to Seles.

That she has risen so quickly in such a short time is a curious footnote in Martinez’s career. Her initial ranking in Feburary 1988, was No. 351, and she broke into the top 100 in four months. Less than a year later, she had cracked the top 10 and fell below that only twice.

Where does she go from here?

To break into the top five, Martinez, in search of a word, said she must be more “consistent. You have to play good all the time, and not have the ups and downs.”

As far as Martinez’s command of the English language goes, it is improving.

“Part of it, is she’s shy,” said Robin Reynolds, Women’s Tennis Assn. public relations coordinator. “But she’s gotten a lot better. Language can be a problem, but she is making the effort.”

It took Argentina’s Gabriela Sabatini, No. 3 in the world, a while before she could communicate as effectively in English as she could in her native Spanish. Like Sabatini, Martinez just needs a little more time.

“The more events you enter the better you become at it,” Reynolds said. “It took a year or two before Gabby was comfortable.”