Rising Stars Have Mixed Results The Lipton, Saturday, March 21 By Ed Toombs

 Slightly off the line but better late than never, OnTheLine arrived a few days tardy for the Lipton. Alas, the tournament was already without two of its top draws. Steffi Graf withdrew in another setback to her laborious comeback attempt, and Michael Chang was also an injury casualty. Then on Friday night the tourney lost still another big name when US Open champion Patrick Rafter was eliminated by Florida boy Vince Spadea. .

 Rafter, still without a tournament victory since his US Open triumph and having a mediocre 1998, spoke at length after the match about the problems he is having keeping his focus since being thrust into the spotlight. "I am there to play, but my mind is just not really anywhere. It is just cruising," Rafter lamented. "I don't know...."

 Truth be told, Rafter's results are starting once again to resemble what he used to accomplish before his surprising spurt of brilliance that started late last spring. He admits: "I am looking forward to a couple of weeks of hard work that will start paying off. I have to put in the work."

Guga

 On Saturday the Lipton fans had a chance to inspect another young man cruelly suspected in some circles of being a Grand Slam Fluke, Brazil's reigning French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten. "Guga" won, but it was a massive chore for him: he tottered several times on the brink of defeat, but rallied to claim a second-round 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) win over a 150th-ranked qualifier from Barcelona, Francisco Roig.

 A close shave, and except for the tie-break when he played perhaps his best tennis, the Brazilian was often in difficulty. Indeed, when Roig seized a break in game five the third set, Guga's chances looked very poor. However, the Spaniard, who had been ripping numerous top-spin backhand winners through most of the match, lost his touch with this shot at an inopportune time, allowing Kuerten to break back and even the set at 3-3. Guga continued to look wobbly on his serve, but held on until the tie-break.

 In the deciding tie-break, Kuerten somehow regrouped and played his most decisive and penetrating tennis of the match. And ruthless! With Roig at the net, Guga drove a hard forehand right at the Spaniard's body to claim a 5-2 lead. From there, the Brazilian cruised to close out the match at 7-3.

 Still, most of the time Guga seemed well off the form he flashed at the 1997 French Open. The backhand, so impressive in Paris, sometimes fell lamentably below the tape. He seems a bit slower, nagged as he has been by injuries, most recently a back problem at Indian Wells two weeks ago.

 As shaky as his tennis was, it was a relaxed Kuerten who met with reporters after the match. Reclining in his chair and crossing his sandal-adorned feet, he laughed off his recent injury problems ("I always have a little injuries, but nobody knows because nobody looks for me: now they start to look and see I am not that strong"), and took solace in having played a strong third-set tie-break. But his mobility and backhand will have to improve if he expects to beat 24th-seeded Andrei Medvedev in the third round.

 Anna

 The most eagerly-anticipated women's match pitted rising teenaged stars Anna Kournikova and Mirjana Lucic. But the marquee duel fizzled as Lucic piled error atop error to hand Kournikova a 6-4, 6-2 win.

 As with many young players (and some older ones), Lucic does not have a Plan B if Plan A doesn't work. She continued to stand well inside the baseline to return serve, even though the tactic rarely paid dividends. And she appears to have no strategy beyond hitting groundstrokes hard and harder.

 Eleven months older that Lucic, Kournikova showed that a year can make an enormous difference at these tender teenage years. Intent on making Lucic move and keep the ball in play, Anna gladly watched her strategy yield numerous unforced errors. Kournikova strikes a beautiful, clean ball, and showed she has made great strides in the patience department.

 She must be chomping at the bit with a chance in sight to upset Monica Seles in the third round, given Seles's recent inactivity and unconvincing showing in a narrow three-set win over Maria Antonio Sanchez Lorenzo. They have never played before, but Anna is exuding mature confidence while Monica looks distracted, rusty and edgy. Kournikova is looking forward to their first-ever encounter -- "She is one of the best players ever, and I respect her very much and I like her game" -- and I wouldn't bet against her.

 Shooting from "The Lip":

 Men's action:

  Horrifying Scud crash: Granted, it is hardly news: it is becoming an all-too common occurrence at major tournaments. 15th-seeded Mark Philippoussis once again collapsed in the most puzzling of ways, losing 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to 105-ranked Detroit journeyman Steve Campbell. Like Lucic, "Scud" seemed to have no game plan, somewhat less excusable in his case since he is in his third full year on the circuit.

 As if he was anxious to get of the court, during the third set changeovers Philippoussis only sat down for 10 short seconds, springing to his feet and striding to the service line, staring into space. The cagey Campbell was mostly content to slice backhands cross-court to Philippoussis's suspect backhand. And when the big Australian tried to unleash a forehand it more often sailed out, sometimes by an almost comically large margin. Not impressive stuff....

 Otherwise, it was a fairly predictable day, with most of the seeds advancing in straight sets. The rare players who had to struggle were Kuerten and 22nd seed Thomas Enqvist: the Swede sandwiched two 6-1 scores around a 5-7 second set against Carlos Costa. Of the two upsets, Todd Martin's victory of Alberto Berasetegui did not surprise many. A bigger upset was Galo Blanco's 6-4, 7-6 win over Magnus Larsson. Blanco was a surprise quarterfinalist at the 1997 French Open who had done little of note since, until today.

 Women's action:

 No major names were knocked out, but some minor seeds were eliminated. Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Anke Huber had scares, each coming back from one set down in grueling marathons.

 There was great action all over the grounds. For example: China's Li Fang was so extenuated after grinding out a 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 win over 22-seed Ruxandra Dragomir that, after match point, she had difficuly walking and was coughing and gasping to catch her breath. I thought she might collapse, but she recovered and left the court slowly, but with a huge smile now on her face.

  Seles narrowly edged Sanchez Lorenzo, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3, and cut a somewhat sad figure in the post-match press conference. This was not the Monica Seles we have seen in past years, bright-eyed and attentive. Given the fact that her father is dying, everyone could understand her predicament. Reporters sympathetically but persistently focused their questions on her difficult family situation. She says she plans to "pick her spots" in her scheduling decisions: "I mean, I have years of tennis ahead of me, so I really wanted to spend these last few months with him."...

  Federov: On a much more trivial note: Anyone hoping for a major revelation about the relationship between Kournikova and the NHL hockey star Sergei Federov? Not today. "He is just a friend of mine. You know, another athlete and a very nice person." Sorry, folks.

 Odd withdrawal: 15th seed Dominique van Roost abandoned her match against Elena Likhovtseva at 1-6, 0-1, complaining of itchy eyes caused by an allergic reaction.
 

Want to react to this report? Click here to send us feedback.