Kournikova Is Ousted by Seles

It will go down as another missed opportunity between magazine cover shoots.

For an opportunistic Anna Kournikova, the time to break through and win a tennis tournament seemed ideal. For once, there were no romantic dramas involving the best of the NHL. The week at the Acura Classic amazingly unfolded with no questions about Pavel Bure, Sergei Fedorov or any other high-profile athlete.

The top two players in the world--Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport--were long gone from the draw, distracted by other issues. Her semifinal opponent, Monica Seles, was tired, had a blister on her left hand and barely survived her quarterfinal match.

Venus Williams was already waiting, but who knew what could happen if Kournikova managed to reach the third final of her career?

Nevertheless, a resilient Seles matched Kournikova stroke for stroke. If Kournikova hit hard, Seles hit a little harder. If she grunted, well, of course, Seles grunted louder.

And so, the great champion of the past, Seles, took out the champion-still-in-waiting, defeating Kournikova, 6-3, 7-6 (2), in 78 minutes at La Costa Resort and Spa. In today’s final, fourth-seeded Seles will play third-seeded Williams, who beat Amy Frazier, 6-2, 6-3, in an earlier semifinal.

In 76 career tournaments, Kournikova has reached only two finals and still is without a title. Sort of like Susan Lucci before she won an Emmy.

Her last final was more than a year ago, but she has adequate reason to be pleased with her progress. The 19-year-old Russian reached back-to-back semifinals and is playing more aggressively, and, impressively, her once-weak serve is no longer a major liability.

This, however, was an eminently winnable match. Seles has not been able to practice because of a blister on her left hand and she may not be able to play at the Manhattan Beach event, which starts Monday.

“It’s always tough to say it was winnable or not,” Kournikova said. “Of course, I lost it. So you can never say for sure. Monica wouldn’t give anything away. So you have to play your best to beat her.”

The window of opportunity, though, snapped shut in the second-set tiebreaker. Kournikova, as has been her pattern, lost the first set and dramatically picked up the pace in the second, erasing a 4-1 deficit.

They stayed on serve, but Seles’ mental toughness seemed to be the difference in the tiebreaker. The previous day, she survived a match point and went on to prevail in a taut third-set tiebreaker against Sandrine Testud of France.

Kournikova hurt her own cause when she missed a high sitter of a forehand. That gave Seles a 3-1 lead in the tiebreaker and she went on to win four of the final five points.

“It was a very good second set,” Seles said. “Anna played some unbelievable tennis. I had to fight to get to the tiebreaker. And now, I have to rest up for another tough match tomorrow.”

Kournikova is a combined 1-9 against Seles and Williams, with the victory coming against Seles at the 1998 tournament in Key Biscayne, Fla. Williams and Seles have played only twice, with Williams winning both of the hard-court matches in straight sets.

“They hit different,” Kournikova said. “Monica plays much smarter, Monica goes for angles. She moves the ball really well. She makes you run. Venus just hits hard, anywhere.”

The Williams power was on display against Frazier. Frazier had three winners to 27 for Williams.

“I sort of felt a little lost at times,” Frazier said.

Williams needed a third-set tiebreaker to beat Frazier in the quarterfinals of the last event at Stanford, but assessed her play at “zero percent.” Williams cut down the doublefaults from 20 to 10, so she raised her percentage to 60.

“I didn’t play too well today,” Williams said. “I felt I was off balance. Usually I’m serving a lot better. Last week, I was so upset I couldn’t hit the ball.”

Still, who can beat her these days?

“I think I could beat myself, that’d be the only one right now,” said Williams, who is on a 14-match winning streak.

Said Seles, in response: “I love Venus. She has such a great sense of humor. I really got to know her and Serena at Fed Cup. They are funny. She won both the Wimbledon singles and doubles and she won last week. She’s playing probably the best tennis of her career right now. So why not feel confident? If you don’t feel confident right now, when will you?”