WOMEN’S TENNIS LA COSTA TOURNAMENT : Once Graf Finally Gets Going, She Doesn’t Stop

CARLSBAD —  Once Steffi Graf received her wakeup call, it was no contest.

The message came in the form of a rally by Sandrine Testud of France, who transformed a 1-4 deficit into 4-4 and 5-5 ties in the first set of their third-round match Thursday in the Mazda tournament at La Costa.

Testud was unseeded and is ranked 95th in the world, so it was easy to see why top-ranked Graf found it hard to take her seriously. But Graf roused herself when she had to, winning, 7-5, 6-1.

Graf moved into the quarterfinals, where she will meet seventh-seeded Mary Pierce of France today. Pierce, ranked 14th, breezed past ninth-seeded Naoko Sawamatsu of Japan, 6-1, 6-4.

Second-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain, No. 3 in the world rankings, continued on course toward a title match with Graf by defeating Petra Ritter of Austria, 6-2, 6-1. Sanchez Vicario’s quarterfinal opponent will be 11th-seeded Ann Grossman of Grove City, Ohio, who upset sixth-seeded Helena Sukova of Monaco, 5-7, 7-5, 6-0.

Graf had complained of dizziness during her match Tuesday night and had withdrawn from the doubles, but she reported no such problem Thursday.

“It comes and it goes, but I was fine today,” Graf said. “It seemed difficult for me to get into the match, but I was OK after it was 5-all. I started concentrating better.”

Graf upgraded her game so dramatically after squandering her lead that she lost only one point in the last two games. She then ran off a 5-0 lead in the second set with a loss of only six points before Testud salvaged a love game.

Sanchez Vicario spoke enthusiastically after her easy victory. “I’m playing great,” she said. “This is the best tennis I’ve played. That’s why I’ve won (four) tournaments this year and I’m No. 3 in the world.”

The last remaining California resident was eliminated when 16th-seeded Ros Fairbank-Nideffer of Escondido lost to third-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain, 6-1, 6-3. Martinez’s quarterfinal opponent will be sixth-seeded Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria, who beat Jennifer Sandrock, 6-3, 6-1.

Two unseeded players reached the quarterfinals, and they will play each other today. Marketa Kochta of Germany, ranked 173rd, beat Tatiana Ignatieva of Belarus, 6-0, 6-2; and Elena Likhovtseva of Kazakhstan, No. 244, outlasted 15th-seeded Natalia Medvedeva of the Ukraine, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.

Jennifer Capriati, who had won this tournament the last two years but withdrew because of a back injury, said she expects to be ready for the Canadian Open in Toronto beginning Aug. 16. She is not entered in the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles.