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Sugiyama stuns fifth-seeded Pierce

Substitute player pulls off giant upset at TIG Classic

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Posted: Tuesday August 03, 1999 02:26 AM

After Pierce took the second set, Sugiyama (above) finally converted on her sixth break point on Pierce's serve in the fourth game. Clive Brunskill/Allsport

CARLSBAD, Calif. (AP) - Unseeded Ai Sugiyama, who lost earlier in the day in the qualifying tournament, pulled a stunning turnaround in the evening with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 first-round win over fifth-seeded Mary Pierce Monday night at the $520,000 TIG Classic.

Sugiyama failed to gain one of the four qualifying spots when she lost to Meilen Tu, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1. However, she got a reprieve when Magdalena Maleeva, Pierce's opponent, withdrew because of a recurring problem with a stress fracture in her left arm.

Playing less than six hours after losing to Tu, ranked 103rd in the world, Sugiyama was the aggressor from the beginning.

"I didn't play good today in the qualifying," Sugiyma said. "I wasn't aggressive enough. I know if I'm not aggressive enough, I have no chance against Mary."

Sugiyama, on the court for three hours, 31 minutes in her two matches, took advantage of Pierce's erratic play in the first set to register three service breaks.

After Pierce took the second set, Sugiyama went ahead to stay when she finally converted on her sixth break point on Pierce's serve in the fourth game.

"It was not that tough," Sugiyama said of playing two matches. "I didn't feel tired at all."

In another first-round match, Barbara Schett, raked 13th in the world, scored an impressive 6-4, 6-3 first-round victory over Conchita Martinez of Spain.

While Pierce was the only seeded player who played Monday, Schett faced an unusually tough first-round match against Martinez, a former top 10 player.

"I think it was tough enough," said Schett, a 23-year-old Austrian. "We had some big rallies. I knew that she doesn't really like to play on hard courts too much. But I like playing her because she doesn't play too fast."

In other first-round matches Monday, Chanda Rubin defeated Julie Halard-Decugis of France 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, and Irina Spirlea of Romania was a 6-2, 6-1 winner over Sylvia Plischke of Austria.

All the other seeds, including world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport, were idle Monday.

Schett has steadily climbed the ATP rankings to her current position. But after losing in her first match in last week's Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, Schett knows she still has room to improve.

"Stanford was just too early for me," said Schett, who lost 6-4, 6-0 to Amy Frazier after a first-round bye. "I always have problems when I come from clay courts. I really wanted to play good and win a couple of rounds here. I think I had a good start."

Although the match was close, Schett won virtually all of the big points against Martinez, the No. 2-ranked player in the world three years ago.

 

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