Reinstadler Not Quite a Screaming Success

Winning only four of 19 break points is enough to make almost anyone scream. And Beate Reinstadler did several times--in German.

“It’s nothing bad, but it’s my secret,” Reinstadler said, smiling.

Nonetheless, her failure to convert was enough for even a somewhat rusty Conchita Martinez to hold on, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, in their second-round match at the $430,000 Toshiba Tennis Classic Tuesday at La Costa.

Martinez, the 1994 Wimbledon champion and second-seeded player, had not played on the tour since this year’s Wimbledon and appeared in and out of focus at times during the 2-hour 5-minute match.

It’s not often that the No. 74-ranked player in the world has No. 4 scrambling for most of three sets, and Reinstadler lamented her lost opportunities. Martinez led in the third set, 5-1, but Reinstadler cut the margin to 5-3 and fought off four match points before losing.

“If I would have won the game to get to 4-5 in the third set, I could have won the set,” said the 28-year-old Reinstadler, who has represented Austria in the Fed Cup. “I thought she was nervous and I thought she was tired also.”

Asked how worried she was after losing the first set, Martinez said: “Not much. I thought I couldn’t play much worse. If it wasn’t working, it wasn’t meant to be. I tried to be more aggressive and to mix up the pace.”

Later, Mary Pierce, the third-seeded player, had an easier route, needing only 18 minutes to take the first set in a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Erika de Lone, and top-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario beat Patricia Hy-Boulais, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2. Marianne Werdel Witmeyer (seeded No. 11) and Gigi Fernandez (No. 16) also advanced.

There were two minor upsets in the second round. Sandrine Testud of France, ranked No. 62 in the world, defeated sixth-seeded and 11th-ranked Natasha Zvereva of Belarus, 6-3, 6-4, and Japan’s Ai Sugiyama, ranked No. 67, beat 10th-seeded and 24th-ranked Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, 7-5, 6-0.