U.S. Women Courting 2 Gold Medals : Tennis: Team Fernandez joins Capriati in finals by beating Meskhi and Zvereva, 6-4, 7-5.

Let it be known that the great American indifference toward this Olympic tennis tournament was strictly a male thing.

Jennifer Capriati paid close enough attention to qualify for the women’s singles final today, against Germany’s Steffi Graf.

Team Fernandez also stuck around to check out the doubles final, which will pit Gigi and Mary Joe Fernandez--no relation, except for their advanced ability on extra-width tennis courts--against the beloved daughters of Spain, Conchita Martinez and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.

Fernandez y Fernandez advanced Thursday by defeating Leila Meskhi and Natalia Zvereva of the Commonwealth of Independent States in a semifinal match, 6-4, 7-5. Martinez y Sanchez Vicario , the tournament’s top-seeded duo, routed the Australian team of Rachel McQuillan and Nicole Provis, 6-1, 6-2.

So how do Gigi and Mary Joe feel about this current event?

Thursday, they wore their emotions on their heads and on their skirts. The pair dressed identically, tying starred and striped bandannas over their white baseball caps and donning white skirts with a small American flag embroidered below each pocket.

And to get to this point, Mary Joe risked her health--she all but collapsed of dehydration on the court a week ago--and Gigi an international incident. Gigi is the Chris Evert of Puerto Rico, born in San Juan and celebrated as the country’s first female professional athlete. She has played for Puerto Rico in past Pan American Games and caused a national controversy this year when she opted to play for the United States in the Olympics.

“It was not too popular,” Gigi said of her decision. “But maybe now they realize that this was the only chance I had for a medal. They’d all rather me be playing for Puerto Rico, but if I had, I might not have even qualified for the Olympics.”

A doubles specialist, Gigi would have been paired with Emile Viqueira if she had played for her native country. Viqueira is not ranked among the women’s top 300 singles or top 250 doubles players.

“And we would have had to go through a qualifying tournament for the American sector in Paraguay,” Gigi said. “Mexico and Canada were among the countries entered, and only one (doubles) team was going to go. It probably wasn’t going to be us.”

Gigi lives in Aspen, Colo., an address that landed her on the U.S. team and, now, in Saturday’s gold-medal match.

Getting to this point was an experience Gigi described as “nerve-racking.” She added: “I feel much more pressure here than in a Grand Slam tournament. Maybe it’s because the Olympics are only once every four years, maybe it’s because you’re playing for your country.

“But at a Grand Slam, you’re so relaxed out there, playing a doubles quarterfinal. It wasn’t like that at all (Wednesday) when we were playing (to clinch) a medal.”

Three of the top 10 women’s doubles players in the world were on the court Thursday, with the defending French Open and Wimbledon champion team, Zvereva and Gigi Fernandez, separated by the net. Zvereva is ranked No. 2 in doubles, but her deep, sharp volleys weren’t enough to offset the cross-court scrambles of Gigi (No. 8) and Mary Joe Fernandez (No. 9).

Gigi was asked how an Olympic gold medal might rate as a collectible alongside her Grand Slam tournament trophies.

“I don’t know,” she replied with a smile. “That’s a tough question, because I haven’t won a gold medal yet.

“As a tennis player, I grew up my whole life dreaming about winning Wimbledon someday--and I did that four weeks ago (in doubles). The Olympics has been a much shorter dream.

“But you see the flag go up and they play the national anthem. We’re getting more publicity in doubles here than we ever do anywhere else. We get asked into the press room after matches, which is something that never happens.”

In other words, the perks have been good. Jim Courier and Pete Sampras might have discovered as much, had they only invested the time.

Marc Rosset of Switzerland and Jordi Arrese of Spain, two of the also-rans in world tennis, will play for the Olympic gold medal in men’s singles Saturday.

Rosset beat his friend and doubles partner, Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia, 6-3, 7-5, 6-2, and Arrese defeated Andrei Cherkasov of the CIS, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-3, in the other semifinal.

Ivanisevic, first man in the Open era to win four five-set singles matches in a row, said he felt drained after a five-set doubles match Wednesday. He was left with two bronze medals to show for his monumental efforts after playing 39 sets at the Games, mostly in scorching temperatures.

“I was dead out there,” he said.