Teen Queen Weathers Frailties of Youth

On-the-job training on the women’s tennis tour can be a merciless experience for the many children trying to learn while they earn.

The leading lights of the WTA Tour were on display here Thursday at the French Open, in all their youthful resiliency and inexperience.

Martina Hingis, who at 16 is the top-ranked woman in the world, advanced shakily to the third round, indulging her penchant for petulance. Anna Kournikova, 15 going on 35, had little trouble winning and will play Hingis next.

Least experienced among the teens is Venus Williams, 16, whose unlikely path has taken her from the public courts of Compton to the leafy grounds of Roland Garros and her first Grand Slam tournament. She was erratic and ineffective against the veteran Natalie Tauziat of France and is out of the tournament.

Two former teenage stars, Monica Seles and Mary Pierce, advanced. The third-seeded Seles defeated Sarah Pitkowski of France, 6-3, 7-5, and the 10th-seeded Pierce defeated Patricia Hy-Boulais of Canada, 6-1, 6-3.

Paris always has been friendly toward teenage girls. Arantxa Sanchez Vicario won the title at 17, Seles at 16. Steffi Graf was 18 when she won the first of her five titles here and Jennifer Capriati was still an innocent young girl when she was a semifinalist in 1990.

Of them, Capriati, who already has been through drug and alcohol rehabilitation, most graphically exemplifies the difficulty of growing up both in public and in your job.

Hingis, so far, appears able to withstand the rigors of the tour, embracing its grinding competitiveness. Seemingly mature, she nevertheless retains girlish affectations--giggling, making faces and throwing the occasional racket and tantrum.

Hingis is still unbeaten here but looked beatable in her match against Gloria Pizzichini of Italy. She won, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, running her streak to 33 matches, but it was a near thing. Her assessment of her play was frank and coyly self-edited: “I just play like . . . I want to say a bad word.”

Pizzichini, at 5 feet, is one of the few players on tour who does not tower above the diminutive Hingis. She reeled off the first four games of the first set before Hingis was startled into action.

But Pizzichini fell victim to a deflating double fault while serving to go up 5-3 in the second. Hingis went on to take the second set and wrest the momentum.

Of the double fault, Pizzichini said, “The match was finished. My match was finished.”

Once Hingis gets a whiff of any opponent’s weakness, it usually is the end. Her confidence, after six weeks off the tour because of a knee injury, is growing daily.

Reporters thought they might have found an angle to Hingis’ comeback when one was elected to ask the teenager if she had gained weight.

“I don’t think I have some extra kilos,” Hingis said, shooting the questioner a piercing look. “This dress is pretty tight, so I wouldn’t be very happy with myself if I would look like, I don’t know, a pig on the court.”

Kournikova is far too concerned about her figure to allow extra ounces in any of the wrong places. Hingis is more mature in behavior but Kournikova, a Russian who lives in Florida, strives to be the most grown-up of the teens on tour. Her game is still growing, but it was enough to get her past Sandra Cecchini of Italy, No. 129. Kournikova, No. 47, won, 6-2, 6-2.

That sets up a match against Hingis, who like Kournikova was a multiple titlist as a junior. They have never met on the tour but played twice in juniors. Hingis won both times.

Williams never looked comfortable against the 29-year-old Tauziat, who was bathed in the support of her countrymen on center court. Williams’ play in the 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 loss reflected her 90th ranking and her inexperience, this being only her 13th professional tournament.

Neither player was efficient--each had 51 unforced errors--giving the match a bogged-down feel. Williams’ serve was well off target and her 16 double faults were alarming. She got the first one on break point in the third game of the first set. She staved off three set points and managed to win the set.

But her serving got no better and she finally lost the match on a double fault.

Williams is scheduled to play at Wimbledon, where her power figures to be better served. But a dejected Williams said her immediate plans were unclear.

Sounding like a confused teenager, rather than an assured professional, Williams shook her head and said, “I’m lost. I don’t know what I’m doing.”