Spotlight Belongs to Williams Duo

On a night when third-seeded Anke Huber of Germany was ousted by 13th-seeded Nathalie Tauziat of France in the State Farm Evert Cup on Monday, the Williams sisters of Southern California, Palm Beach, Fla., and white-beaded dreadlock fame, stole the show.

While Tauziat was beating Huber, 6-4, 6-3, in a nearly empty stadium, Venus and Serena Williams, 15 months apart at respective ages of 16 and 15, attracted a standing-room-only crowd on Court Three and battled to a second consecutive three-set victory.

They beat Asa Carlsson of Sweden and Anne-Gaelle Sidot of France, 0-6, 6-3, 6-3. stands.

The tournament marked the first time the sisters had paired up for doubles in a Women’s Tennis Assn. event, and they are now in the quarterfinals, with a Tuesday matchup against third-seeded Lindsay Davenport and Natasha Zvereva.

Venus Williams, who grew up on the courts of Lynwood, Inglewood and Compton under the direction of her father, Richard, has made an occasional splash on the tour, but has played sparingly since moving to Florida and currently is ranked No. 211 in singles. Serena has no singles ranking, and the pair was given a wild card entry into the bracket.

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Today’s Featured Matches

Today’s featured matches in the State Farm Evert Cup (women) and Newsweek Champions Cup (men) tournaments at the Hyatt Grand Champion Resort. Seedings in parenthesis:

DAY SESSION STARTING AT 10

* Stadium Court--Iva Majoli (5) vs. Venus Williams; Mark Philippoussis vs. Andre Agassi (10); Adrian Voinea vs. Thomas Muster (2); Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (1) vs. Sandrine Testud.

* Clubhouse Court--Marc Rosset (13) vs. Mariano Zabaleta; Ruxandra Dragomir (14) vs. Lindsay Davenport (4); Mary Joe Fernandez (9) vs. Kimberly Po (11); Marcelo Rios (5) vs. Magnus Larsson.

* Court Three--Alberto Costa (9) vs. Byron Black.

EVENING SESSION STARTING AT 6:30

Chanda Rubin (15) vs. Conchita Martinez (2); Sjeng Schalken vs. Michael Chang (3).