TENNIS : Shriver Warms Up and Wins

Tenth-seeded Pam Shriver, coming back from an operation to her right shoulder, beat Peanut Harper, 6-4, 6-1, Monday in the first round of the Matrix Essentials Evert Cup at Indian Wells.

Shriver utilized lobs and passing shots that led to numerous unforced errors by Harper.

“This is the seventh week in nine that I’ve been playing with this shoulder and it’s not too bad,” Shriver said. “I was a slow starter today. I knew my head had to be in there. She was slow, too.”

In other matches, No. 11-seeded Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia defeated Maya Kidowaki of Japan, 6-4, 6-1; No. 13 Debbie Graham overcame Rennae Stubbs of Australia, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1; No. 14 Helen Kelesi of Canada downed Audra Keller, 6-0, 6-7 (7-4), 6-2, and No. 15 Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden beat Monique Javer, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.

Also, Tami Whitlinger defeated Gretchen Magers, 6-3, 6-1; Stephanie Rehe beat Susan Sloane-Lundy, 6-1, 6-1; Ann Grossman downed Akiko Kijimuta of Japan, 7-6 (10-8), 6-0; Rene Alter of Canada routed Rika Hiraki of Japan, 6-3, 6-1; Angelica Gavaldon beat Jo Durie of Britain, 6-2, 6-7 (7-5), 7-5; Elna Reinach of South Africa defeated Kimberly Po, 7-5, 5-7, 6-0, and Claudia Kohde-Kilsch of Germany beat Heather Ludloff, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Ninth-seeded Naoko Sawamatsu of Japan dropped out because of a sprained right ankle sustained in practice Friday.

Martina Navratilova said she was misunderstood during last week’s conference call with reporters, regarding her choice of surface against top-ranked Monica Seles. Navratilova said that rather than hard courts, her favorite surface against Seles would be grass, on which she has won nine Wimbledon championships.

“That should have been obvious,” said Navratilova, who is seeded to face Seles in the final of the Evert Cup, which is played on slow hard courts at the Hyatt Grand Champions, a surface perfectly suited to Seles’ game.

Navratilova, seeded second, plays her first match today against Kathy Rinaldi, a 6-4, 0-6, 6-1 winner over Clare Wood of Britain Monday night.

Bjorn Borg, 35, faces John Lloyd, 37, in an exhibition at the Forum at 7 tonight, the first match for the five-time Wimbledon champion since being routed by Jordi Arrese in a comeback attempt April 23.

Wimbledon champion Michael Stich plays David Wheaton in the night’s second match.