Seles Refuses to Wilt in Heat of Moment

On a day not fit for noontime outdoor exertion, the Acura Classic gamely pressed on Wednesday, sending its tennis players out into a blistering heat. The toasty day at Manhattan Beach claimed one seeded player and very nearly another as the $450,000 tournament entered the second round.

The temperature of the court surface at Manhattan Country Club was 122 degrees before the afternoon match between second-seeded Monica Seles and Sandrine Testud of France. Seles said later she mostly felt the heat from her opponent, coming back after going down a set and trailing, 2-5, in the second to win, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.

The match took 2 hours 23 minutes at the height of the midday heat.

Seles was not the only seeded player to struggle. Third-seeded Amanda Coetzer was upset by Amy Frazier, 6-1, 6-3. Coetzer hit only seven winners during the 69-minute match.

Fourth-seeded Lindsay Davenport, the defending champion, cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Yayuk Basuki in 48 minutes.

Top-seeded Martina Hingis defeated No. 30 Anne-Gaelle Sidot of France in the night match, 6-2, 6-2.

Because of the conditions, Seles and Testud were allowed to take a 10-minute break between the second and third sets. According to the WTA Tour’s formula, the heat stress index on court was 96 degrees. A break may be taken in a three-set match when that index is at 82 degrees or above.

Until then, the players pressed on in heat tempered only by an erratic breeze. Inconsistent was the appropriate adjective for Seles’ play. As she had last week at Carlsbad, Seles committed too many unforced errors, 29 Wednesday.

Testud, who defeated Seles in the fourth round at Wimbledon, handled Seles and the conditions with aplomb in the early stages of the match.

“We played a pretty good first set,” Testud said. “I think she was a little bit tired at the beginning of the second set.”

Just the thing that let Testud down as she was serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set. Testud said that, for the first time in the match, the sun was directly in her eyes as she tossed the ball and it blinded her.

Seles broke to get back and held serve to force the tiebreaker. She had fought back from 1-5 and 2-6 in the first-set tiebreaker, but Seles had no such trouble in the second-set tiebreaker. After winning that, she used the momentum to quickly wrap up the third set.

Davenport was not required to linger on court as long as Seles. Davenport underwent her annual rejuvenation after a recent Fed Cup match. The gregarious 21-year-old thrives in team situations such as the Olympics and Fed Cup and comes back from the events reporting how much she likes the atmosphere.

“I always say Fed Cup is great, but this year it was really great,” Davenport said. “We had so much fun. Whenever you get around a group of world-class tennis players and see how hard everyone tries . . . I had a good time.”

Hingis was not pressed, firing in seven aces and committing only 10 unforced errors.

Tennis Notes

A benefit for Andrea Jaeger’s Kids Stuff Foundation and Silver Lining Ranch in Aspen, Colo., raised $40,000 Wednesday night. The event, sponsored by Acura, IMG and The Times, was held before the evening session of the Acura Classic. IMG’s Jim Curley announced at the event that the fund-raiser, benefiting Jaeger’s ranch for seriously ill children, would become an annual event at the tournament.

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Acura Classic

FEATURED MATCHES

Beginning at 11 a.m.

* No. 5 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario vs. Ai Sugiyama

* No. 6 Anke Huber vs. Venus Williams

Beginning at 7 p.m.

* No. 2 Monica Seles vs. Natasha Zvereva