Tauziat Earns Shot at Seles With Victory : Mazda Classic: Frenchwoman upsets Maleeva-Fragniere, 6-3, 6-3, to join top-ranked Seles, Capriati and Martinez in semifinals.

CARLSBAD —  And now, a minute away from Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati.

A break from shin splints and No. 1 in the world, teen-age trivia and hoopla.

A moment for Nathalie Tauziat.

She had plenty of them Friday night. In what probably ranks as the Mazda Tennis Classic’s biggest upset this week, No. 6 Tauziat defeated fourth-seeded Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere, 6-3, 6-3, at the La Costa Resort and Spa to advance to today’s semifinal round match against Seles.

Tauziat, 23, is ranked No. 14 in the world; Maleeva-Fragniere ninth. Tauziat is more of a background player than anything else, although this year she did become the first Frenchwoman to reach the quarterfinal round of the French Open since 1978.

But tournament championships? Tauziat, from St. Tropez, France, has won only three in her eight-year professional career. And she still is looking for her first tournament championship of 1991. The best she has managed this year is three appearances in semifinal rounds.

Tauziat has been on the tour long enough to learn a few American cliches, and so she said her goal this week was merely to take things one match at a time. Then, she explained.

She was down last week after the Federation Cup because she didn’t perform as well as she expected. It turns out that she developed a soreness in the bottom of her right foot at Wimbledon in June and then received an anti-inflammatory injection.

“I took holidays--15 days off,” Tauziat said. “I think I took too much holidays.”

The way she has played this week, it looks like her schedule isn’t too far off. Against Maleeva-Fragniere, she won eight consecutive points early, stumbled a bit when she double-faulted four times while losing the third game of the first set, but picked herself back up.

She played with emotion, letting out periodic screams of delight or yelps of frustration. When she won match point, she screamed with jubilation at her victory.

“It was special for me because I was so down last week,” Tauziat said. “And I was surprised to be in the semifinals.”

But there was a moment of pause for Tauziat after the match. It came as she approached the net to shake Maleeva-Fragniere’s hand. The two are well-acquainted now, having met seven times. Tauziat has won four of the matches.

“I like her, she’s a nice person, and I was a little upset,” Tauziat said softly. “She was crying.”

Indeed, the loss was a different experience for someone seeded so highly here. Entering the day, the top six seeded players had won 22 of 24 sets.

And aside from Maleeva-Fragniere’s loss, not much changed. Second-seeded Conchita Martinez knocked off Debbie Graham, an amateur who was the NCAA singles champion last year at Stanford, 6-0, 7-5, to advance to the other semifinal match against fourth-seeded Jennifer Capriati, who defeated No. 5 Zina Garrison, 6-1, 6-4.

Capriati was faced with a difficult task--playing Garrison, who is her doubles partner for the week.

Problem? Capriati bullied Garrison throughout the first set, applying relentless pressure. Then, Garrison managed a few points in the second set but not enough.

“The first set I thought she played really well,” Garrison said. “But I had bad footwork--that’s something I really need to work on.

“I thought Jennifer played well when she had to. I made her hit some great shots when she needed to.”

Capriati, 15, remains much less intense off the court than on.

She was asked what factors allowed her to have such an easy time with Garrison.

“Factors?” Capriati asked back. “I was just playing well. I was serving well. All of my shots were just going in.”

As for the second set, when Garrison kept it a little closer, someone suggested Capriati perhaps went through a spell in which she played poorly. Capriati bristled.

“It’s not like I went from playing totally awesome to totally missing every shot,” Capriati said.

No, it isn’t. Whatever she did, worked. Same for Tauziat.

As a result, they each get another day out of this tournament.

Tournament Notes

No. 4 Jennifer Capriati and No. 2 Conchita Martinez, who will play in one semifinal match at 12:30 p.m. today, have split two meetings in their career. Martinez won in the 1991 French Open, 6-3, 6-3, but Capriati won when they played in the Federation Cup last week, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1. . . . No. 1 Monica Seles and No. 6 Nathalie Tauziat, who will play in the other semifinal match at 7 tonight, have only played once. It was in 1990, and Seles won, 6-3, 6-1. . . . A total of 4,080 attended the day session at La Costa Resort and Spa Friday and 4,366 attended the evening session. . . . Tauziat on what she has to do today against Seles: “I have to go to the net.”