This Time, It's Serena Williams Who's Bumped by Spirlea

By LISA DILLMAN

Sept. 5, 1998 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

NEW YORK —

Irina Spirlea watched the forehand return from Serena Williams sail wide on match point. The Romanian screamed something loudly for several seconds, a mixture of Spanish and Italian.

“It was a regular match,” Spirlea said later, smiling.

Yeah, right.

Or maybe it was the full moon hanging over the U.S. Open on Friday night. Spirlea’s reaction was fairly intense after a 6-3, 0-6, 7-5 third-round victory. Spirlea refused to repeat her winning words, saying: “No, I get another penalty. Another fine. I don’t know what I said.”

Oh, that fine. Last year, Spirlea was fined $5,000 by the WTA for using an expletive in regard to Venus Williams, in the aftermath of their infamous bumping incident on a changeover in the U.S. Open semifinals.

Nothing of the sort occurred in the well-played match between the ninth-seeded Spirlea and 16-year-old Serena Williams. Venus’ younger sister, making her Open debut, displayed an impressive blend of power and speed, particularly in taking the second set in 22 minutes.

“I lost completely the size of the court,” Spirlea said. “I was completely somewhere else. She confused me.”

In the third set, the players stayed on serve until the 11th game. Spirlea broke Williams at 15, taking a 6-5 lead after Williams whacked a backhand well past the baseline.

That left Spirlea to serve for the match, no easy task. She has lost twice to Serena Williams this year, and squandered two match points in the semifinal loss to Venus last year.

In the final game, Spirlea went up 40-15, hitting a forehand winner and an ace before reaching match point when Williams netted a backhand. One point later, she celebrated loudly.

Said Williams: “My serve wasn’t there tonight. Ultimately, it was the serve. I couldn’t hold and it completely broke down at the end.”

Spirlea spoke about the differences and similarities of the sisters.

“They serve well and they hit the ball pretty hard,” Spirlea said. “Sometimes you can play with their power. But I think Serena has a better forehand. The one cross-court, when she is running, she is getting an unbelievable angle.

“They hit the same but they are not similar.”

As for the great bumping incident . . .

Spirlea and Serena Williams insisted that last year was in the past.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah--it’s normal,” Spirlea said. “ OK, next time we both have interview here. It is normal with them and they are normal with everybody. Everybody is happy.”

Spirlea was asked if she could be friends with the sisters.

“Don’t go so far,” she said, laughing. “I don’t have time to have dinner. So I am going to call her in my room and have room service.”

Said Serena Williams: “That is just so in the past. Only people who remember it are those who dwell in the past and can’t get over it and might have problems. Those are the only people who remember it.”

The topic turned Williams’ post-match news conference from routine to downright bizarre. She got into a flippant exchange with one male reporter, making a disparaging personal remark. Later, Serena Williams asked and answered her own question, almost in a half-singing tone, saying: “Any more questions? I have got the answers.”

The rest of action on the women’s side featured less drama. Top-seeded and defending champion Martina Hingis of Switzerland lost a set for the first time in three matches as she defeated Amelie Mauresmo of France, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

The 19-year-old Mauresmo has a high-risk game, and an extremely erratic but powerful backhand. She pushed Hingis to three sets in July during a Fed Cup match before losing. Still, Hingis wasn’t too worried until the second set Friday.

“After yesterday, everyone told me great match,” Hingis said of her straight-set victory against Iva Majoli. “I had to come back today and I was, you know, just too confident. After I lost the first set, it was like, ‘Hey girl, kind of wake up. You don’t want to go home after this match.’ I started playing better and more aggressive.”

Hingis admitted she did not think much of Mauresmo’s game when she watched the Frenchwoman’s Fed Cup match against Hingis’ Swiss teammate Patty Schnyder.

“Patty [Schnyder] was playing against her, and I thought, ‘Well, this girl can’t really play.’ ” Hingis said. “But she played a different level [against me]. She played so much better because she has nothing to lose against me. Once it came to be very close, she is very chokey.”

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* Pete Sampras (1) vs. Mikael Tillstrom

* Patrick Rafter (3) vs. David Nainkin

* Greg Rusedski (6) vs. Jan Siemerink

* Andre Agassi (8) vs. Davide Sanguinetti

* Karol Kucera (9) vs. Adrian Voinea

* Jonas Bjorkman (12) vs. Fabrice Santoro

* Goran Ivanisevic (14) vs. Paul Haarhuis

WOMEN

* L. Davenport (2) vs. V. Ruano-Pascual

* A. Sanchez Vicario (4) vs. S. Pitkowski