Hingis KOd by Frazier

Martina Hingis was trying to explain her latest loss, and not doing so well. And why not? She had just about as much success chasing Amy Frazier’s ground strokes around the court Thursday night.

Wait a minute . . . Amy Frazier?

Hingis, the top-ranked player and defending champion, has had her share of curious results the last couple of years. Still, a 6-3, 6-3 quarterfinal loss to Frazier in the Acura Classic at La Costa Resort & Spa may be right at the top, along with an inexplicable first-round loss to 129th-ranked Jelena Dokic at Wimbledon last year.

There was little hint this loss to the 26th-ranked Frazier was coming, unlike the Dokic match, which was preceded by a well-documented case of teen angst. Hingis was powerless under a barrage of Frazier’s flat ground strokes, in particular, a sizzling backhand down the line.

“Everybody has those things,” Hingis said. “Venus [Williams] didn’t play for half a year and now she won Wimbledon. Same with Serena [Williams]. Other players have that. Lindsay [Davenport] lost to Anna [Kournikova] last night, and beat her three, four times before. Once in a while you have those things.”

Even Hingis realized this was starting to sound like a bizarre rationalization. She had not lost to Frazier in four matches.

“It shouldn’t happen against a player like Amy,” she said, smiling and shaking her head.

The 27-year-old Frazier, from Rochester Hills, Mich., was in a state of surprise as well. She played her first U.S. Open in 1987 and has always hovered at the edge of the elite, reaching her career-high ranking of No. 13 in 1995.

“I’ve never even won a set off her,” said Frazier, who actually did in their first meeting in 1995.

“I’m very shocked.”

Frazier was hard-pressed to discuss her victory, giggling and turning red several times. She is so shy, she decided to hit against the wall of the main court here Tuesday, apparently unable to find a hitting partner. Sandrine Testud spotted Frazier hitting alone against the wall and offered to let her work out with Testud’s coach.

Hingis knew Frazier had taken Venus Williams to a third-set tiebreaker in the quarterfinals before losing last week at Palo Alto, but didn’t take advantage of her opportunities in the first set. Once Frazier won the first set, in 26 minutes, she gained confidence, hitting the lines off both sides.

The resourceful Hingis tried everything--a few lobs, a couple of drop shots, a trip or two to the net. But little worked against Frazier.

The loss of Hingis was a big blow to the tournament, coming a day after second-seeded Davenport went out against Kournikova. Frazier will play third-seeded Venus Williams in the semifinals Saturday.

Williams had little trouble against fifth-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain in an earlier quarterfinal. She picked a sweet, airy metaphor the other day to describe what she didn’t want her second serve to look like, under any circumstance:

Krispy Kreme. Puffy and light without a lot of substance.

She could have been talking about the serve of Martinez. Williams took those slow-moving deliveries and punished them for winners, breaking the serve of Martinez eight times.

It should be pointed out Martinez served only eight times.

This added up to a 6-3, 6-0 victory by Williams in 51 minutes.

In the other day matches, both in the second round, sixth-seeded Nathalie Tauziat of France defeated Elena Likhovtseva of Russia, 6-1, 6-2, and the eighth-seeded Testud of France defeated qualifier Tatiana Panova of Russia, 6-2, 6-3.

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Davenport has entered next week’s estyle.com Classic at Manhattan Country Club in Manhattan Beach.

Davenport, a winner in 1998, lost in the semifinals last year.