She’s Weighing Cons of Pros

INDIAN WELLS —  On one hand, there is UCLA. Then there are close marquee matches on Center Court against elite players such as Venus Williams and Martina Hingis.

No wonder it was difficult for San Diego amateur Alexandra Stevenson to peer into the future after losing, 6-3, 6-4, in 63 minutes to the top-seeded Hingis of Switzerland in the second round at the Evert Cup on Saturday.

“Maybe if I would have won today, I would have said, ‘Yeah, I’m not going to college, forget that,’ ” Stevenson said.

Hingis offered her opinion about the other 18-year-old.

“I think she would do quite well turning pro,” she said.

If she had to make a decision right now, Stevenson joked, “Flip a coin. I don’t know.”

She aced Hingis seven times and led, 4-3, in the second before experience took over. Hingis closed fast, winning the final three games, and put it away at the net with a volley.

“It was a very good match for the beginning, you can see where your game is against her,” Hingis said. “She had nothing to lose.

“She served big. I mean, she’s a big girl anyway. But she had a very high standard. It was sometimes very frustrating for me. You get the return back, and boom-boom, two aces come right after that.”

Said Stevenson: “It felt great. I got to play a great champion. I had the experience today to play a No. 1 player. I was a little upset that I couldn’t hold my serve at 4-3, but I’ll learn how to do that.”

Hingis is the defending champion, but as she noted, that was quite some time ago, especially in the fast-changing world of women’s tennis.

“That side [the women] is getting faster every three, four months, I would say,” Hingis said. “Even me, I learned a lot from last year. I hope I won’t make the same mistakes.”

In other action, three more seeded players lost in the first round, and two of them, No. 11 Dominique Van Roost of Belgium and No. 15 Natasha Zvereva of Belarus, were in Hingis’ half of the draw.

The other seeded player to exit was No. 9 Anna Kournikova of Russia.

German qualifier Barbara Rittner defeated Van Roost, 0-6, 6-4, 6-3; Lisa Raymond beat Zvereva, 6-4, 6-4; and Silvia Farina of Italy defeated the flu-ridden Kournikova, 7-6 (7-3), 1-6, 7-5. Kournikova, who has been struggling with her serve since late last year, double-faulted seven times. Farina double-faulted nine times and secured the victory. So much for statistics.

“My strokes are fine, everything else is fine,” Kournikova said. “I just need to get back into physical shape. I’m having a little difficulty breathing and practicing for a long time.”

Today’s Featured Matches

Starting at 10 a.m.

* Steffi Graf, Germany, vs. K. Hrdlickova, Czech Republic

* Lindsay Davenport vs. Serena Williams

* Mary Pierce, France, vs. Amy Frazier

* Jana Novotna, Czech Republic, vs. Mary Joe Fernandez