Hingis, Davenport Poised for Rematch

Round three of the California hard-court season begins today at the Acura Classic at the Manhattan Country Club in Manhattan Beach, and, as you might expect, the first two were won by the usual suspects.

Lindsay Davenport, of Newport Beach, then ranked No. 1, defended her title at Stanford on Aug. 1, defeating Venus Williams in straight sets.

Martina Hingis, regained No. 1 by reinventing herself at La Costa on Sunday, defeating Williams in straight sets.

Davenport lost the No. 1 ranking and dropped to No. 2 when she was taken out in straight sets by Williams on Saturday in the semifinals at La Costa. Williams won’t be playing singles at Manhattan Beach this week, though her younger sister Serena is seeded sixth.

So, will there be a rematch between the current No. 1 and the former No. 1?

Hingis and Davenport met in the final here last year, and Davenport won in three sets, as she was in the midst of a three-tournament winning streak. Oddly enough, Davenport and Hingis have only played once in 1999, with Davenport beating Hingis in the final at Sydney in January.

The new WTA rankings came out today, but the seedings at Acura are based on the previous rankings. The top eight seeded players, in order, are Davenport, Hingis, Mary Pierce of France, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain, Nathalie Tauziat of France, Serena Williams, Barbara Schett of Austria and Sandrine Testud of France.

Wimbledon semifinalist Alexandra Stevenson of San Diego, a wild-card entry, will be playing her first WTA event since losing to Davenport at Wimbledon. She did win a bronze medal in singles at the recent Pan American Games in Winnipeg.

Among those who played at La Costa, but won’t be at Manhattan Beach, are Anna Kournikova, Steffi Graf and Amanda Coetzer. Venus Williams had planned on playing doubles this week but said on Sunday there was a chance she might skip the event.

Today’s action includes the remaining round of qualifying and a handful of first-round matches. The only seeded player in singles action is Tauziat, who will play Amy Frazier. Frazier reached the quarterfinals at La Costa.

The featured night match is Conchita Martinez of Spain vs. Sylvia Plischke of Austria.

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Acura Classic

STADIUM COURT

Featured matches follow 10 a.m. qualifying

* Iva Majoli vs. Julie Halard-Decugis

* Amy Frazier vs. Nathalie Tauziat (5)

Beginning at 7 p.m.

* Conchita Martinez vs. Sylvia Plischke

* Tickets--(213) 480 3232