Seles’ Mom Calls to Say Monica Will Not Play

Top-seeded Monica Seles, this time letting her mother call in her absence, withdrew Monday from the Virginia Slims of Washington.

Seles was asked to compete in the $350,000 event when Steffi Graf, the world’s top-ranked player, pulled out because of a shoulder injury. Seles said she would consider the request. But she then had her mother call a tour official to cancel the appearance.

The withdrawal is the latest in a string of incidents involving the 17-year-old Yugoslav.

After winning the Australian and French opens, Seles pulled out of Wimbledon, citing injuries. She sent a note from her doctor to the Women’s Tennis Assn. explaining her absence.

She missed the Federation Cup in July, which caused her to be barred from the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and she was fined by the WTA for playing in a New Jersey exhibition tournament while missing tour-sponsored events.

Late Monday, Gerry Smith, executive director of the WTA, issued a statement saying the organization “will carefully review its procedures for accepting tournament entries and withdrawals in an effort to ensure that incidents of this nature will not recur.”

Meanwhile, on the court in Washington, eighth-seeded Nathalie Tauziat of France was upset by Andrea Strnadova of Czechoslovakia, 6-4, 7-5; Regina Rajchrtova of Czechoslovakia defeated Helen Kelesi of Canada, 7-5, 6-4, and Marian De Swardt of South Africa beat Ros Fairbank-Nideffer, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).

Also, Katerina and Magdalena Maleeva each scored first-round victories. Sixth-seeded Katerina defeated Carrie Cunningham, 6-4, 6-0. Magdalena, the youngest of three sisters from Bulgaria, topped Sweden’s Catarina Lindqvist, 6-4, 6-3.