TENNIS / AT LA COSTA : Martinez Advances by Beating Demongeot

Third-seeded Conchita Martinez played inconsistently but managed to defeat Isabelle Demongeot, 6-4, 7-5, Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Mazda Classic.

Martinez, ranked eighth in the world, had match point while leading 5-3 in the second set but double faulted and made two errors to lose the game. She clinched the match by dropping only three points in the last two games.

No. 4 seed Anke Huber and No. 6 Nathalie Tauziat also prevailed to move into a quarterfinal match against each other. Huber breezed past Debbie Graham, 6-0, 6-2, and Tauziat outlasted Stephanie Rehe, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.

In another second-round match, Leila Meskhi beat Kimiko Date 6-2, 6-3.

Second-seeded Jennifer Capriati was slated to play for the first time since winning an Olympic gold medal in a late match against Judith Wiesner.

Martinez, who received a first-round bye, broke a 3-3 tie to take control in the first set. She built a 5-1 lead in the second set before Demongeot, a French player rated 89th, rebounded to even the score 5-5.

“I’m not happy with my play but it was difficult to play her,” said Martinez, of Spain. “She didn’t let me get into a rhythm. Then, when I was winning 5-1, I lost my concentration.”

Germany’s Huber, ranked 11th, benefited from erratic play by Graham, a former Stanford player, to win the first 10 games in their match.

“I started very well,” Huber said, “and because she had so many double faults, it was easy for me to break her.”

Graham, from Fountain Valley, failed to win a service game as she committed 19 double faults.

In the day’s only three-set match, the 12th-ranked Tauziat of France trailed 2-3 in the third set, but Rehe double faulted two straight times during the final game before Tauziat hit a return winner for the deciding point.