Surviving Players Feeling Heat, but It’s Not From Opponents

A blast of hot air and inhospitable conditions greeted defending champion Mary Joe Fernandez upon her return to the State Farm Evert Cup on Sunday, causing momentary discomfort but no lasting damage.

Fernandez started well, faltered, then recovered to outlast Anna Smashnova, 6-0, 2-6, 6-1, in a second round match that took 1 hour and 55 minutes on another hot day at the Hyatt Grand Champions. Fernandez called for a 10-minute “extreme weather conditions” timeout between the second and third sets, when the court temperature was measured at 120 degrees.

After the match, someone made mention of it being a “dry heat” but Fernandez only laughed.

“When it’s that hot, I don’t care about humidity or dryness,” Fernandez said, “I don’t care how good of shape you are in, it’s still hard.”

Others thought so too. Second-seeded Conchita Martinez had less trouble with Florencia Labat, whom she defeated, 6-1, 2-6, 6-2, than she had with the heat. Martinez’ feet were sweating so badly that blisters developed.

When she asked for a few moments to change her socks, or a three-minute injury time out, the chair umpire offered to invoke the 10-minute weather rule. Martinez happily agreed.

Unfazed by the elements was Jennifer Capriati, whose clobbering of Shi-Ting Wang, 6-0, 6-0, evoked images of yesteryear. Capriati swung away, hit the lines and found the angles. Her serve improved and, where she had hesitated closing out her first-round match, Capriati pounced on her multiple opportunities. She converted six of eight break points during the 43-minute match.

“I started off better today,” Capriati said. “It’s been an exhausting day, waiting around [to play] in the heat. Maybe that calmed my nerves.”

Still skittish with media, Capriati was more comfortable than she had been after her first round match. But it’s clear that at 19, she’s never going to return to being the chipper teen that so many wish her to be. As she pointed out, “I’m not a baby anymore.”

Playing in only her second tournament in 16 months, Capriati will be fully tested by her next opponent--a third-round match with Chanda Rubin.

Martinez, ranked No. 2, made her first appearance here, without the fanfare that attends Steffi Graf or Capriati. By now--with a career that has a curious obscurity considering her ranking--the former Wimbledon champion is accustomed to being overlooked.

Asked if it bothers her that the top-seeded Graf is already seen as the de facto winner of the tournament, Martinez shrugged.

“People are going to talk, you’ve got to understand that,” she said. “Steffi, she has such a record, there is a lot to talk about.”

Martinez looked fit and in control during most of the match, but again displayed her trademark lapse of concentration, which cost her the second set.

“It was 2-0, then suddenly it was 3-2 for her,” Martinez said. “It was impossible to go back. I don’t know if it was concentration or not.”

Martinez recovered well enough to convincingly close out the match.