TENNIS / WOMEN AT INDIAN WELLS : It Takes Longer, but Result Is the Same for Fernandez

She is the defending champion, but Mary Joe Fernandez has been all but eclipsed by Steffi Graf at the Evert Cup.

Not that she minds.

“It’s OK by me,” Fernandez said.

Although shunning the spotlight, Fernandez called attention to herself Thursday when she needed almost two hours to defeat Anne Mall, 6-4, 7-6 (11-9), in the second round at Hyatt Grand Champions.

It was pointed out, of course, that she’d worked a lot harder than Graf, whose second-round match Wednesday lasted only 43 minutes.

“Sure did,” Fernandez said. “It was a very long match.”

In fact, the 1-hour 53-minute match was the longest of the day. Third-seeded Lindsay Davenport defeated Elna Reinach, 6-2, 6-1, in 53 minutes, and sixth-seeded Amanda Coetzer defeated Robin White, 6-2, 6-1, in 55 minutes.

Fernandez, seeded second, survived a mini-Mall rally after the 191st-ranked player on the WTA Tour suddenly came to life after falling behind, 5-2, in the second set.

“She played really well from behind, went for more shots,” said Fernandez, who is ranked seventh. “She really was reading, I guess, where I was going and hit some good passing shots on big points. . . .

“Obviously, when lower-ranked players play top-ranked players, they have nothing to lose. I remember, coming up, I played my best matches against people who were in the top 10. You have to expect that (lower-ranked players) are going to be looser and go for more shots. You’ve got to be ready.”

But Mall, who won the Southern Section 4-A championship as a senior at Dana Hills High and played one injury-marred season at UCLA before turning professional in 1992, seemed to catch Fernandez by surprise.

Mall, 19, broke Fernandez in the eighth and 10th games of the second set and led, 0-30, in the 12th before Fernandez won four consecutive points to hold serve and force a tiebreaker.

“In the second set, I kind of wavered and let her get on top,” said Mall, who won three qualifying matches last weekend. “And then, at 5-2, I just said, ‘This is a good opportunity to do something.’ ”

She survived match point once each in the ninth and 10th games, then twice more in the tiebreaker. Eventually, though, Mall’s serve started to desert her.

“I got a little nervous,” she said. “And my arm was a little bit tired from playing all the qualifying matches.”

Mall hit backhands wide and long on the last two points.

“I’m a little pleased,” she said. “I thought I could have had the second set. I’m a little disappointed, but overall I was happy.”

Fernandez was relieved. “I thought I kept pretty well concentrated,” she said. “It gets frustrating when the match is pretty much over and then all of a sudden you’re down. I tried to keep my composure and just play each point.”

Tennis Notes

Lindsay Davenport and Lisa Raymond, playing in only their fourth tournament together, upset the top-ranked doubles team of Gigi Fernandez and Natalia Zvereva, 6-4, 6-4, in a quarterfinal match.