Hingis Doesn’t Have Air of Invincibility This Time Around

Sixteen-year-old Martina Hingis of Switzerland showed up for the Toshiba Tennis Classic at La Costa in 1997 with two Grand Slam tournament titles--the Australian Open and Wimbledon--and a 50-1 record.

At that moment, the challengers seemed far removed, still teenagers themselves. Now, in 1998, one interesting aspect of the diminishing dominance of the top-ranked Hingis is that her losses at the majors have come against so-called “veteran players.”

Monica Seles, 24, beat Hingis in the semifinals at the French Open, and Jana Novotna, 29, defeated her in the semifinals at Wimbledon. Seles, who lost to Hingis in the Toshiba final last year, is entered again this time. The reigning Wimbledon champion, Novotna, is not playing any of the three California hard-court tournaments in preparation for the U.S. Open.

The only other players in the top 10 not playing at the La Costa tournament, which starts today, are French Open champion Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain and Amanda Coetzer of South Africa.

The top-seeded players, in order, are Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams, Seles, Conchita Martinez of Spain, Steffi Graf of Germany, Irina Spirlea of Romania and Wimbledon finalist Nathalie Tauziat of France.

Davenport and Venus Williams arrive with most momentum, having playing a hard-fought final Sunday, which Davenport won, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, at Palo Alto, Calif. In that tournament’s semifinals, Williams eliminated Seles and Davenport stopped Graf.

Seles and Graf are in the same part of the draw at La Costa and could meet in the quarterfinals, if form holds. Graf plays Julie Halard-Decugis of France in the first round and Seles has a bye. They are in the same half as Davenport. The upper half of the draw features Hingis, Venus Williams, Martinez, Spirlea and Mary Pierce.

Wild-card spots were given to Mirjana Lucic of Croatia, Alexandra Fusai of France and Alexandra Stevenson.

Not appearing at La Costa, the 17-year-old Anna Kournikova has been out of action since mid-June when she injured her right thumb in a quarterfinal victory against Steffi Graf at Eastbourne, England. She then withdrew from Wimbledon and had been hoping to return this week in Southern California, but is not ready for tournament play.

Only one Williams sister, Venus, is playing singles. Serena Williams is skipping singles for this tournament and will play singles next week at Manhattan Beach. Venus is not scheduled to play singles at Manhattan Beach.

None of the seeded players are in action today. Along with several first-round matches are four remaining qualifying matches. One of the players attempting to qualify is Jennifer Capriati, who won this event in 1991 and ’92.

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Spa Showdown

* What: $450,000 Toshiba Tennis Classic.

* Where: La Costa Resort and Spa, Carlsbad, Calif.

* When: Today through Sunday.

* Surface: Hard court.

* 1997 final: Martina Hingis d. Monica Seles.

* Draw: 32 players.

* Top players: Hingis, Seles, Steffi Graf, Lindsay Davenport and Venus Williams.

*

TODAY’S FEATURED MATCHES

* Center Court, 11 a.m.: Nathalie Dechy, France vs. Jennifer Capriati (qualifying match); Sandrine Testud, France vs. Alexandra Stevenson; Iva Majoli, Croatia vs. Alexandra Fusai, France; Elena Likhovtseva, Russia vs. Lisa Raymond.

* Center Court, 7 p.m.: Barbara Paulus, Austria vs. Mary Pierce, France.