First Round Is All Good for Lucky Loser

Rachel McQuillan joined the million-dollar club more than four years ago, an elite group mostly occupied by players known by their first names. And she owns an Olympic bronze medal in doubles from Barcelona in 1992.

No worries, right?

There is another side: Playing small tournaments in Fresno and Bendigo, Australia. McQuillan won those two ITF events but found it difficult to qualify at times elsewhere. Last week, she was in the freezing cold of Burnsville, Minn., and lost in the second round.

The view has improved in the last few days and we’re not talking about the San Jacinto Mountains. McQuillan lost in the final round of qualifying at the Tennis Masters Series but got into the main draw when Mary Pierce withdrew because of an injury.

In tennis talk, that’s called being a lucky loser. On Thursday, the 29-year-old Australian took it beyond mere luck, defeating Sonya Jeyaseelan of Canada, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, in the first round at the Tennis Garden.

“I’ve come from the bottom,” McQuillan said.

Her ranking dropped as low as 220 in 1999, and McQuillan thought about changing her career.

“I’ve been lacking confidence,” she said. “You start thinking, ‘Is it all worth it?’ It’s awful not having the confidence. It [quitting] goes through a lot of players’ minds. It’s hard to make money and it’s hard to get into tournaments. I was struggling getting into challengers.”

The turnaround started in 2000 when McQuillan did well in the smaller events, and the biggest boost came last month in Dubai. McQuillan won six consecutive matches--three in qualifying--and beat Pierce in the quarterfinals before losing to Nathalie Tauziat in the semifinals.

Another lucky loser joined McQuillan in the second round. Emilie Loit of France beat Anna Smashnova of Israel, 6-3, 6-1. Seven qualifiers won their first-round matches--Cristina Torrens-Valero of Spain, Evie Dominikovic of Australia, Lina Krasnoroutskaya of Russia, Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus, Janete Husarova of Slovakia, Sandra Kleinova of the Czech Republic and Laurence Courtois of Belgium.

Attendance has been light the first two days, though, none of the seeded players have competed yet. Officials said there were 7,537 spectators on Wednesday and 8,119 on Thursday.

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Tennis Masters Series

* Where: Indian Wells Tennis

Garden.

* When: Women’s play continues today, with the final March 17; men begin play Monday, with the final March 18.

* Today’s matches on stadium court: 10 a.m.: Sandrine Testud vs. Angeles Montolio followed by Nicole Pratt vs. Lindsay Davenport; 1 p.m.: Martina Hingis vs. Kveta Hrdlickova followed by Venus Williams vs. Sarah Pitkowski followed by Monica Seles vs. Tathiana Garvin.

* Defending champions: Women: Davenport; Men: Alex Corretja.

* Tickets: (800) 999-1585.