Monica Seles Cruises Past Shriver in Return : Tennis: No. 1-ranked player wins first sanctioned match since French Open 6-2, 6-2.

CARLSBAD —  There were no wigs or other disguises Tuesday night at La Costa. And those were not apparitions on Center Court.

Monica Seles, the real thing, showed up on time and played her match. Those in the crowd of 4,050 had to pay attention, though, or they would have missed her.

Seles, the No. 1-ranked women’s player in the world, quickly disposed of Pam Shriver, 6-2, 6-2, in her first sanctioned match since winning the French Open June 8.

There has been plenty of attention focused on Seles in the past month, but not much of it has been on her tennis. She skipped Wimbledon and then didn’t explain her absence for weeks. Shin splints, she finally pleaded. She skipped the Federation Cup but agreed to play in an exhibition in Mahwah, N.J., the same week.

At a Mahwah press conference, she appeared with a T-shirt with the words “Rome”, “Paris”, “Wimbledon” and “Mahwah” on it. “Wimbledon” was crossed off.

And then she hung out with Donald Trump.

The top 10 reasons why Seles’ tennis game kept getting upstaged? Does it have to be limited to 10?

Tuesday, though, the focus returned to her game. Dressed in a lavender skirt, a white top with lavender trim and no tape or any other protective equipment on her shins, she broke Shriver on three of Shriver’s first four service games, and on six of eight overall. She collected three aces on her own services.

The most telling point in the match came at the end of the seventh game in the second set, which Seles won to go up 5-2. On the last point, a Shriver return set Seles up for an easy slam. Shriver was already near the net. Seles approached for the slam.

Shriver covered her head and ducked while the ball sped past.

Everybody duck. Monica is back.

“In order to stay even with Monica over an hour of play and two sets, you need four-fifths of the breaks to go your way,” Shriver said. “I didn’t have that . . .

“She gets to the ball very quickly, moves forward and takes the ball early. That’s very impressive.”

Despite Seles’ No. 1-ranking, though, Shriver doesn’t think that Seles is some untouchable, dominating force hovering over women’s tennis.

“I don’t think she’s really dominating now,” Shriver said. “I don’t think she’s dominating the way Steffi (Graf) dominated in 1987, 1988 and part of 1989, or the way Martina (Navratilova) did in 1982, 1983, 1984 and part of 1985.

“I don’t think people see her right now as dominating.”

As for Seles, she is spending her time in hopes that her leg pains don’t return. She even said that, when she finished in Mahwah last week, she thought of canceling her appearance here this week.

“I’ll stay as long as I can hold out,” Seles said after Tuesday’s match. “So we’ll see.

“I made a decision not to play if I was hurt, but right now it’s fine. I practiced last week the hardest I ever did because I knew I had to make up for five weeks.”

She was pleased with her game against Shriver, saying she felt in control the entire way.

“Oh yeah,” she said. “I basically felt it could not slip out.”

But dominating? Shriver said no, and Seles was inclined to agree.

“I’m not expecting myself to win the tournament this week,” Seles said. “I take it one match at a time and I never expect to win. If it happens, great. If it doesn’t, you always learn more when you lose.

“But I think I’m playing good tennis.”

Notes

Miami lawyer Ellis Rubin obtained a temporary restraining order against Peter Graf, father of Steffi, and Michael Graf, brother of Steffi, in San Diego Superior Court Tuesday morning on behalf of Jim Levee, 52, and his companion, Jill Genson, 39. Levee and Genson alleged thatPeter Graf was abusive to them at the French Open because they were cheering for an opponent of Steffi’s and that Michael Graf was abusive to them at Wimbledon. The temporary restraining order is good through Aug. 9, when Rubin will be asked by the court to show probable cause and to explain why the restraining order should be permanent. Levee said Peter Graf punched him on the top of the head at the French Open . . .

Aside from Monica Seles, the highest-ranked player to play Tuesday was No. 24 Lori McNeil, who defeated Japan’s Naoko Sawamatsu, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1. McNeil, whose father played for the Chargers in the 1960s, has won two titles this year (Denver and Suntory Japan Open) to match her best years (1986 and 1988). She has now played Sawamatsu twice in her career--McNeil also defeated Sawamatsu at Wimbledon this year, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. As for why McNeil had difficulty with Sawamatsu in the first set, McNeil said, “She hit some balls really soft, and I had a tendency to rush and overhit.”

Today’s Highlights

Center Court, 11 a.m.: Alysia May vs. Nathalie Tauziat; followed by 3-Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere vs. Kimberly Po; followed by 5-Zina Garrison vs. Ros Fairbank-Nideffer; followed by 7-Barbara Paulus vs. Debbie Graham.

Center Court, 7 p.m.: Marianne Werdel vs. 2-Conchita Martinez; followed by Akiko Kijimuta/Naoko Sawamatsu vs. 2-Jennifer Capriati/Zina Garrison.

Court 17, Noon: Akiko Kijimuta vs. Anne Minter; followed by (2 p.m. or later) 1-Gigi Fernandez/Nathalie Tauziat vs. Christina Papadaki/Sylvia Schenck.

Site: La Costa Resort and Spa (Interstate 5 to La Costa Avenue exit, east to El Camino Real, left to the facility).

Tickets: For information, call 438-LOVE. Parking is $5.