Sunday Is Savage for Seeded Women Players

WIMBLEDON, England —  The gates of the stately All England Club were thrown open Sunday to the working class, and for a rare moment brass-buttoned blazers gave way to denim and backpacks.

Wimbledon’s reluctant populism had an equalizing effect on the tournament because, soon democracy was breaking out all over. The women’s side lost six seeded players, including four of the top 10. Befitting the day, a handful of unknown players overthrew tennis’ royalty.

In the space of one gray afternoon, an already wide open women’s draw sprang several leaks. Monica Seles, one of few seeded players to win her second-round match Sunday, gloomily assessed the wreckage.

“I do think everybody in the locker room feel it’s up for grabs,” she said. Seles defeated stubborn Kristina Brandi, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, in a match continued from Saturday night.

“Martina’s [Hingis] job became a lot easier, [because] there are quite a few openings in a couple parts of the draw.”

That’s an understatement. Hingis, who won her third-round match Sunday over Nicole Arendt of Gainesville, Fla., 6-1, 6-3, has little challenge ahead of her. Four of the seeded losers were in Hingis’ half of the draw.

The list of the fallen: Denisa Chladkova of the Czech Republic defeated No. 5 Lindsay Davenport of Newport Beach, 7-5, 6-2; Patricia Hy-Boulais of Canada defeated No. 6 Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, 6-2, 6-1; and Naoko Kijimuta of Japan defeated No. 16 Barbara Paulus of Austria, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, all in second-round matches. Anna Kournikova of Russia defeated No. 7 Anke Huber of Germany, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4; Helena Sukova of the Czech Republic defeated No. 10 Conchita Martinez of Spain, 6-4, 6-2; and Sabine Applemans of Belgium defeated No. 14 Brenda Schultz-McCarthy of the Netherlands, 6-2, 6-3, in the third round.

Nearly added to that list was fourth-seeded Iva Majoli. Karen Cross, an English qualifier served for the match three times against the French Open champion. Majoli was treated for a strained muscle in her back, but it was Cross’ nerves that proved her undoing in Majoli’s 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 victory.

The men managed to avoid the rash of upsets Sunday. Only 15th-seeded Wayne Ferreira lost. Cedric Pioline of France defeated the South African, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, in a third-round match.

With seven-time winner Steffi Graf not entered because of knee surgery, Martinez was the only former Wimbledon women’s champion in the tournament.

“I played very bad. I have missed a golden opportunity,” Martinez said.

Seles also had trouble. Seeded second, she lost the first set to Brandi on Saturday night and looked bad doing it. She got a break in the second set and was leading, 3-1, when the match was stopped because of darkness.

She looked sharper Sunday, but Brandi brought her same brand of insistent tennis to the match. Brandi, 20, would have been forgiven had she been tired. She had won her first-round match Saturday morning, only hours before she played Seles.

Brandi, ranked No. 86, comes from a tennis-playing family based in Florida. Her father, Joe, coached Pete Sampras from 1989-91. Her mother played collegiate tennis. Her uncle, Andy, coaches at University of Florida.

In only her first full year on the tour, Brandi showed poise and spirit against Seles, who has had those attributes throughout her career.

Seles lost her serve to restart the match and Brandi held to draw even, 3-3, in the second set. Seles was broken again and Brandi gained confidence. Her tactic of moving Seles around the court was effective, and her own movement was excellent.

Brandi’s ground strokes were so deep and penetrating that Seles found it necessary to break down Brandi with drop shots and short angles. It worked. Seles cracked her in the eighth game. That break was enough to give Seles the set one game later.

Brandi survived an assault on her serve to open the third set. Seles had seven break points but failed to convert. That happened in the third game, giving Seles a 2-1 lead. She broke again in the last game of the match.

The fans, who have been fickle toward Seles here, answered her victory with warm applause. Seles, smiling, clapped back. Each was appreciative of the fact that a seeded player had won on such a day.

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Today’s Featured Matches

MEN

* No.1 Pete Sampras of United States vs. Byron Black of Zimbabwe.

* No. 3 Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia vs. Jason Stoltenberg of Australia.

* Mark Petchey of Britain vs. No. 8 Boris Becker of Germany.

* Nicolas Kiefer of Germany vs. No. 13 Andrei Medvedev of Ukraine.

WOMEN

* Gala Leon Garcia of Spain vs. No. 3 Jana Novotna of Czech Republic.

* No. 8 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain vs. Florencia Labat of Argentina.