An Open Question

There were eight Americans in the main draw of the Acura Classic tennis tournament that began Monday at the La Costa resort. The youngest were a pair of 24-year-olds -- Laura Granville and Abigail Spears. The highest-ranked was Lisa Raymond, who is No. 47 on the WTA computer list, is 31 and has probably left behind her prime years.

There were 11 Russians in the main draw. The top three seeded players in the tournament -- defending U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, her opponent in the Open final, Elena Dementieva, and Nadia Petrova -- are Russian. Six of the 11 are 20 or younger. They are, they think, the future of tennis. “Fans need to get used to seeing us,” Dementieva said. “We are playing good.”

Kuznetsova is good. She is solidly built, 5 feet 8 1/2 and 160 pounds. She hits a hard, flat groundstroke. When the ball whacks against her racket, the solid sound echoes through empty arenas or bounces off empty metal stands. For despite her Open victory last year under the bright stadium lights in New York, Kuznetsova walks unnoticed through the corridors of the Southern California resort of La Costa.

She hasn’t won a tournament this year, though she is ranked fourth in the world. Although Martina Navratilova, Kuznetsova’s former doubles partner, says the 20-year-old has the game and the mental strength to become something more than a one-Slam wonder, Kuznetsova sighs when she allows, “This year has been hard.”

The daughter of a Russian cycling coach and a world-champion cyclist, Kuznetsova says it still sounds odd when she is introduced as the U.S. Open champion. “I don’t always believe it,” she said. “I think I have put so much pressure on myself to play so good, like I am the Open champion. And everybody plays good against me.”

“Welcome to my world,” said Navratilova, winner of 18 Grand Slam singles titles. “Other players will measure themselves by how they do against the U.S. Open champion. It becomes a great accomplishment to beat her. So you have to raise your own game.”

Mary Pierce, seeded sixth here, said one of her toughest years on the tour came after the first of her two major wins, the 1996 Australian Open. “It changes your life,” Pierce said. “The first year after was tough. I struggled with it.”

When Kuznetsova beat an injured Lindsay Davenport, 1-6, 6-2, 6-4, in the semifinals and the serving-challenged Dementieva, 6-3, 7-5, in the U.S. Open final in September, “It was the greatest moment, holding up the trophy,” she said. In her next tournament, a lower-level event in Bali, Kuznetsova beat Samantha Stosur, Angelique Widjaja, Petrova and Marlene Weingartner on the way to another championship.

Since then Kuznetsova has advanced to the finals of two smaller tournaments. This year she lost in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, to Maria Sharapova; in the fourth round of the French Open to eventual champion Justine Henin-Hardenne, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 7-5; and in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon to Davenport, 7-6 (1), 6-3.

“I have a Slam, nobody can take that away from me,” Kuznetsova said.

“But I am proud this year because I have better consistency. I don’t lose in the first round or second round of the big tournaments.”

Navratilova said Kuznetsova could make another big move forward and challenge for more Grand Slam titles by coming to the net more often.

“The hardest shot in tennis is the first volley,” Navratilova said. “But Svetlana has the ability to make that shot.”

It is something she is working on, Kuznetsova said. She hopes to improve her serve. Most of all, she’d love to gain more confidence.

“I always want to play like a champion,” she said. “I hope I do.”

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One of the young Russians, 18-year-old Anna Chakvetadze, knocked out 12th-seeded Tatiana Golovin of France, 6-4, 6-4, and 15-year-old Bulgarian Sesil Karatantcheva upset No. 13 Shinobu Asagoe of Japan, 6-1, 0-6, 7-5. Karatantcheva beat Venus Williams at the French Open this year.

In a night match, the oldest player in the main draw -- 33-year-old Conchita Martinez of Spain -- lost to 19-year-old Russian Dinara Safina, 7-6 (11), 6-4, in a contest that lasted 2 hours 17 minutes.