Hingis Doesn’t Baby Expectant Opponent

NEW YORK —  The precocity of the women’s tennis tour has been amplifying with each passing week. Players are younger and younger and climbing higher and higher in the rankings, which are currently clogged with teenagers.

This trend was taken to an absurd, albeit symbolic extreme at the U.S. Open as nearly three generations were represented on court Tuesday: 16-year-old Martina Hingis played 28-year-old Tami Jones and--present but as yet unidentified--Jones’ 3 1/2-month-old baby.

Not even 1 1/2 players are capable of stopping Hingis, and the Swiss teenager made no concession to Jones’ happy condition. Leave it to the hyper-competitive Hingis to use drop shots against a pregnant woman.

As with most of Hingis’ strategies, it worked. The top-seeded Hingis won, 6-0, 6-1, and led a procession of young women who have advanced to the second round. Venus Williams, 17, and Anna Kournikova, 17, had previously advanced. On Tuesday, 20-year-old French Open champion Iva Majoli defeated Catalina Cristea of Romania, 6-3, 6-2. The aging Cristea is 22.

The youngest player in the entire tournament easily advanced. Mirjana Lucic, 15, of Croatia, who won the first professional tournament she entered, defeated Sandra Kleinova, 19, of the Czech Republic, 6-0, 6-3.

Fittingly, Jennifer Capriati--whose career provided the cautionary tale that shaped the restrictive rule under which today’s teenage players operate--was on hand on a sunny day at the U.S. Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows. Capriati, now 21 and ranked No. 33, is still stutter-stepping her way in life and tennis. Seventh-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain, a worldly 25, defeated the Floridian, 6-1, 6-2.

Capriati turned pro at 14 and, like so many teenagers extant on the women’s tour today, immediately became the darling of fans and media. When Capriati burned out after a combination of pressures, she became the poster child for what’s wrong with early career advancement.

Consequently, the new rule that restricts the number of tournaments teenagers may play is called the Capriati Rule.

It is that rule that has ensnared Lucic and Kournikova.

It states that 15-year-olds may play in eight tour tournaments and no Grand Slam events. But Lucic, ranked No. 63, is here. The U.S. Open is not obliged to operate under WTA rules and placed Lucic, by virtue of her ranking, in the main draw.

Kournikova, who only this year was allowed into Grand Slam tournaments, was livid. “I think it’s very unfair to me and to all the other players,” Kournikova, of Russia, said. “You can’t make exceptions if you already made the rule.”

A year older than Lucic, Kournikova can play 13 tournaments and the four Grand Slam events.

Lucic, a well-spoken daughter of a fashion model and a restaurateur, is poised to become a major player when she gains more experience. This is only her fifth tournament this year, and she said she believes she can handle life on the tour.

“There’s nothing, nothing that makes me worry, nothing that I’m scared of,” she said. “I always have a couple of people around me. There’s nothing.”

Tennis Notes

In the night match, unseeded Andre Agassi had moderate trouble dispatching Steve Campbell of Detroit, 6-1, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3. It was Agassi’s first match this year in a Grand Slam tournament. Explaining why he failed to appear at Monday night’s ceremony to open the new Arthur Ashe Stadium, Agassi said a “situation arised” and would not elaborate. . . . In other first-round matches Tuesday, eighth-seeded Carlos Moya of Spain was ambushed by Frenchman Guillaume Raoux and his own 51 unforced errors. Raoux won, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2. French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten, seeded No. 9, was extended by American qualifier Geoff Grant before winning, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-3.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Featured Matches

MEN’S SINGLES

* Thomas Muster (5), vs. Tim Henman.

* Sergi Bruguera (7), vs. Michael Tebbutt.

WOMEN’S SINGLES

* Monica Seles (2) vs. Tara Snyder.

* Iva Majoli (4) vs. Sandrine Testud.