A Hingis-Williams Showdown Is Set

Venus Williams would have the world believe she isn’t really excited about playing the No. 1-ranked player tonight. Oh, yeah, Martina Hingis, who has won 50 of 51 matches in 1997.

“Special, I don’t know what you mean. . . . It’s nothing special,” said Williams, who looked formidable in defeating Argentina’s Florencia Labat, 6-3, 6-2, Tuesday in the Toshiba Tennis Classic at La Costa.

“Well, not really. You still have to go out there and beat the player and play the next round. It’s just another match.”

At least Williams didn’t yawn.

Her 17-year-old posture of disinterest about the upcoming second-round match came off as something of an act. Germany’s Anke Huber called it “a joke.”

Huber was candid after her 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 first-round victory over Magdalena Maleeva on Tuesday. She doesn’t know Williams and has never played her but does know something about facing the top-ranked player in the world.

“What shall I say? It’s amusing, I guess,” said the 22-year-old Huber, ranked No. 9. “She [Williams] is the same age [as Hingis]. She cannot say it is just another player--she has lost just one match this year and she’s an outstanding player.

“You cannot say it’s just another match. I think she doesn’t really think that way. She’s just saying it.

“Nothing against her--but it’s a joke.”

Maybe it’s a defense mechanism. After all, Hingis is younger (by six months), richer and has more titles than Williams in 1997, eight to none.

“It’s always something special playing against No. 1 in the world, you cannot say it is nothing special,” Huber said.

Minutes after her comments, Huber wandered into the media lounge and told her coach she had been chided by a Women’s Tennis Assn. tour type for making the “joke” comment. She was irritated and launched into German, and two English words were recognizable: “media trainer.”

Those are the folks who ostensibly help players communicate with reporters, but more often than not, reduce the tour to nothing more than bland-speak.

But the brief admonition did little to dampen Huber’s pleasure over the hard-fought victory over Maleeva. Though once ranked as high as No. 4 (in October 1996), she struggled earlier this year--especially on clay--but regained some confidence with two singles victories against Croatia in Federation Cup action in July, defeating French Open champion Iva Majoli in three sets.

“She had two very good wins--you could see she had much more confidence today,” said Huber’s coach, Zoltan Kuharszky.

Against Maleeva, Huber trailed, 3-5, in the first set before sweeping the final four games. And later, she rebounded after a dismal second set and up-and-down third. There were 16 service breaks in the match, and several months ago Huber might not have prevailed.

“It could be,” she said. “I lost a match like that in Paris this year.”

Huber, seeded fifth here, next will play No. 22-ranked Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia, and holds a 3-1 career advantage. One of the top matches scheduled for today is No. 4-seeded Conchita Martinez vs. Lisa Raymond, a rematch of the 1995 Toshiba final, which Martinez won.

But the glamour matchup will be at 7 p.m., between Hingis and Williams. They’ve played once before, several months ago at Lipton, with Hingis winning, 6-4, 6-2. Williams just didn’t lose the match, she also lost some of the beads from her hair. Hingis picked up some of them and later playfully tossed them at Swiss journalists.

Said Williams: “The main thing, when you’re out there, you have to not play the name. . . . You just have to go out and have some confidence and be ready to play the person.”

Tennis Notes

In night matches, sixth-seeded Mary Pierce defeated Amy Frazier, 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, while Ai Sugiyama defeated Alexandra Stevenson, 6-3, 6-1.

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Toshiba Classic

FEATURED MATCHES

STADIUM COURT

Beginning at 11 a.m.

* Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (Spain) vs. Sandrine Testud (France)

* Ai Sugiyama (Japan) vs. Monica Seles (United States)

Beginning at 7 p.m.

* Martina Hingis (Switzerland) vs. Venus Williams (United States)