Seles Leaves Reinach Feeling Dodger Blue : Tennis: No. 1 women’s player wins easily the night after watching a baseball game.

All in all, it was a fairly productive 24 hours for Monica Seles.

She went to Dodger Stadium Monday night and saw her first Dodger game, but missed catching a foul ball because she was eating a Dodger Dog at the time. Then on Tuesday night, she took a full swing and knocked Elna Reinach out of the box.

In fact, on successive points in her 6-1, 6-0 rout in the Virginia Slims of Los Angles, Seles actually hit one-handed forehands. This seemed fairly significant since just about the only thing Seles does with one hand at sporting events is eat a Dodger Dog.

“A world famous Dodger Dog,� Seles corrected.

Under the lights at Manhattan Country Club, Seles celebrated her return to the No. 1 position in the rankings by offering a 44-minute treatise on power tennis that left Reinach feeling helpless.

“It’s not a very good feeling,� Reinach said. “If someone can hit winners from anywhere on the court and you can’t even get to the ball, it’s just too good. You can’t complain about it. There’s nothing you can do.�

Seles lost only 24 of 80 points in the match, saved the three break points she faced and advanced to a third-round encounter against either Robin White or Amanda Coetzer.

It was over so swiftly that when Seles was asked the most difficult point in the match, she was stumped for an answer.

“I knew I had to not miss too many shots,� Seles said.

So she didn’t. The highlights included her consecutive one-handed forehands, a dramatic departure from her normal two-fisted clubbings, as well as a skillfully executed overhead smash that hit the court with a splat and bounced high into the backstop.

“I make that shot in practice, but usually I can’t go through with it in a match,� Seles said. “It may land many feet behind the baseline. So I was very proud of myself.’

Fifth-seeded Leila Meskhi did not feel the same way.

Soon after Meskhi returned to the courts after two months off because of a shoulder injury, she was back on the sidelines again after losing, 6-4, 6-1, to Kimiko Date.

There was no further injury to Meskhi’s strained shoulder muscle, but her feelings were hurt by losing to the 112th-ranked Date.

Meskhi, ranked No. 13, was playing her first match since injuring herself during a practice session after the French Open.

“I play so bad,� she said. “Since it is my first match, I am not surprised.�

Meanwhile, Date seemed shocked silly, which was understandable. Besides beating one of the top seeded players, Date put herself in position to win a third match in a tournament for the first time this year.

Of course, Seles is in an entirely different position. She has won four tournaments--including the Australian Open and the French Open--and appeared in the finals of the other five events she has played this year.

But coming up soon is the U.S. Open, where Seles has not advanced past the fourth round. She would rather not be reminded, thank you. When is she going to start thinking about the Open?

“Never,� Seles said. “I think last year, (a third-round upset by Linda Ferrando) I was thinking about it too much. So I’m really getting ready for the (1992) Australian Open. No kidding. I don’t want this curse.�

What she would like instead is to catch a foul ball.

“When that one came my way, I got scared,� she said.

Maybe Seles won’t be so nervous tonight. She is going back to Dodger Stadium for the Dodgers’ game with the Cincinnati Reds, hoping this time that if a foul ball comes her way she will be waiting instead of eating.

Tennis Notes

Monica Seles recently paid $3,700 at a charity auction so she could have lunch with Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda. Seles said her favorite Dodgers are Darryl Strawberry and Orel Hershiser. . . . Gabriela Sabatini plays at 7 tonight against Patricia Hy. Sabatini, the last seeded player to get underway, was given an extra day to rest blisters on her foot that forced her to default to Jennifer Capriati in their semifinal Saturday in Montreal. . . . Dept. of Crazy Statistics: 1. The next-to-last game of Amy Frazier’s 6-4, 6-2 victory over Linda Ferrando went to deuce 15 times and lasted 18 minutes; 2. Nathalie Herreman served seven double faults and won only six points on her serve in the first set of her 6-0, 6-4, loss to Helena Sukova, finishing with 12 double faults; 3. Patty Fendick served 13 double faults in a 6-0, 6-2 loss to Robin White; 4. Larisa Savchenko lost to Ann Grossman, 6-0, 6-0, in 38 minutes, winning just 13 of the 40 points she served. . . . Debbie Graham of Fountain Valley has turned pro.