Coetzer, Martinez advance at Evert Cup tennis
Posted: Sun March 8, 1998 at 11:56 p.m. EST
Two-time finalists Amanda Coetzer of South Africa and Spaniard
Conchita Martinez advanced to the third round today at the $1.25
million Evert Cup tennis event in Indian Wells, California.
Coetzer, the fourth seed, breezed past American Anne Miller,
6-3, 6-3. In the last match of the night, fifth-seeded
Martinez, the Australian Open runner-up, struggled before
overcoming Maria Alejandra Vento of Venezuela, 6-7 (0-7), 7-5,
6-3.
Five other seeds were victorious in their second-round matches.
Ninth seed Sandrine Testud of France held off compatriot Julie
Halard-Decugis, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4; 10th seed Dominique van Roost of
Belgium topped Barbara Paulus of Austria, 6-4, 6-0; No. 11 Ai
Sugiyama of Japan got past American Tara Snyder, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1,
to earn a third-round date with two-time champion Steffi Graf of
Germany; Russian teenager Anna Kournikova, the 16th seed,
outlasted American Chanda Rubin, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2); and No. 13
Ruxandra Dragomir of Romania came from one set down to ease past
Russian qualifier Tatiana Panova, 5-7, 6-0, 6-0.
Martina Hingis of Switzerland, Lindsay Davenport of the United
States and Graf -- the top three seeds -- coasted into the third
round Saturday.
Hingis stormed past Sarah Pitkowski of France, while Davenport
had little trouble with countrywoman Amy Frazier. Graf,
displaced by Hingis for the No. 1 ranking last March, disposed
of Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn in the third match of her
comeback from knee surgery.
Sixth seed and 1997 finalist Irina Spirlea of Romania,
eighth-seeded American teenager Venus Williams and number 15
Natasha Zvereva of Belarus also were victorious in their
second-round matches. But seventh seed Nathalie Tauziat of
France was upset by American Sandra Cacic and No. 14 Brenda
Schultz-McCarthy of the Netherlands was eliminated by Germany's
Meike Babel in a first-round match.
Hingis, 11-2 this season, lost to Williams at the Sydney
International in January and fell to Davenport in the final of
the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo last month. Sandwiched around
those defeats was her second straight Australian Open title and
fourth Grand Slam title in two years. She finished 1997 with
just five losses and 12 singles titles.
Davenport, ranked second, has compiled a 13-3 record this
season. In addition to her victory over Hingis in Tokyo, she
reached the semifinals at the Australian Open and also was a
semifinalist at Oklahoma City, losing to Williams. The
21-year-old Davenport won six titles overall last season, second
only to Hingis.
Graf, the 1994 and `96 champion, is playing in her second
tournament in her return from season-ending knee surgery. After
several setbacks in her comeback attempt this season, she
finally made her debut at last month's Faber Grand Prix in
Hannover, Germany, losing to Sabine Appelmans in the
quarterfinals.
The 28-year-old Graf is receiving a special seeding of third in
events leading up to the Lipton Championships in two weeks. She
was assigned the seeding since she was ranked third in the world
following the 1997 French Open.
Williams, 17, extended Davenport to a third-set tiebreak in last
year's quarterfinals. The 12th-ranked Williams, who captured
her first professional singles title last week in Oklahoma City,
is competing in her second full season on the WTA Tour after
turning pro in 1994.
The top eight seeds received first-round byes.
First prize is $205,000.
© 1998 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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