Navratilova Ill, Bows Out of Evert Tourney : Tennis: Seles wins first match; Martina says she was hit by stomach virus.

It would have been a natural, Monica Seles against Martina Navratilova for the championship, but it isn’t going to happen.

Much of the luster was removed from the Matrix Essentials/Evert Cup Tuesday when Navratilova, the two-time defending champion and the world’s fourth-ranked women’s tennis player, withdrew because of a stomach virus. She was seeded second to Seles, who is No. 1 in the world. Seles has won three of their five meetings.

Navratilova, who was scheduled to begin her tournament title defense against Kathy Rinaldi on Tuesday after drawing a first-round bye, made her decision to drop out after a brief morning workout. She was replaced by Victoria Milvidskaia of the Commonwealth of Independent States, formerly the Soviet Union, who lost to Rinaldi, 6-4, 7-5.

Seles, who also had a bye in the first round, met only token resistance from Elna Reinach of South Africa, advancing with a 6-1, 6-1 victory. Her next opponent will be Tami Whitlinger, the former Stanford star, who outlasted Jolene Watanabe of La Puente, 2-6, 6-1, 7-5.

With Navratilova out, third-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain became Seles’ principal challenger. Martinez, ranked ninth in the world, defeated Stephanie Rehe of Fontana, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).

Navratilova, who two weeks ago broke a tie with Chris Evert by winning a record 158th singles title, held a news conference before leaving for her home in Aspen, Colo.

“It hit me Saturday night,” Navratilova said. “I had a scratchy, scratchy throat. I played (Monday), but today it’s much worse. I practiced about 15 minutes this morning, and once I saw how I felt, I knew it was no use.”

Asked about her symptoms, she said: “I don’t want to tell you all the gory details, but every time I move around at all, my heart rate goes up. My whole body is aching. Everything hurts a little bit, although nothing is a full-blown ache.

“I also have post-nasal drip, or whatever they call it. It’s just the basic crud. L.A. crud, I call it.”

Navratilova said she had played in La Quinta Monday, adding, “They’re supposed to be the second-slowest courts in the desert, the only ones slower are the courts here.”

The last was a reference to Navratilova’s preference for faster surfaces, particularly grass, on which she has won a record nine Wimbledon titles.

“I thought if I didn’t feel any worse today, I could have played, but I feel worse,” she said. “I watched television last night, and then I thought of calling and getting some Nyquil, but I probably wouldn’t have been able to wake up in time. That’s pretty strong stuff.”

Navratilova said that missing this tournament has created a scheduling problem.

“I have to play 10 tournaments for the bonus pool, excluding Grand Slams,” she said. “Right now, I don’t have any place to make it up.

“My next one will be San Antonio (starting March 23), and then I’ve got that trial (for the palimony suit filed by Judy Nelson) coming up (April 6).

“It can’t go on more than three weeks. There’s only so much lawyers can talk about, even if they get paid by the word.”

Seles said of Navratilova’s departure: “Definitely, if I get to the final match it will make it easier. I know everybody was looking forward to seeing Martina and me. It’s just bad luck.”

Seles lost the first game of each set to Reinach before breezing into the round of 16.

“I don’t do that on purpose,” she said. “It’s just that she didn’t hit with much pace, and I wasn’t moving too well.”

Seles agreed with Navratilova on the slowness of the Grand Champions courts.

“They’re the slowest hard courts I ever played on, by far,” she said. “They’re different. I don’t know why that is. They seem a little rough. My sneakers were scraping.”

Two seeded players--the bottom two--were beaten in the second round. No. 15 Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden lost to Ann Grossman, 6-2, 6-4, and No. 16 Robin White of Del Mar lost to Ginger Helgeson, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3.

Other seeded winners included No. 4 Katerina Maleeva of Bulgaria, No. 5 Nathalie Tauziat of France and No. 12 Nicole Provis of Australia.