Tennis Glance

Monday, Feb. 10, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

STARS

- Chanda Rubin of Lafayette, La., won her first Corel WTA Tour title, defeating second-seeded Karina Habsudova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-2 in the final of the Austrian Open.

- Mike Russell of the University of Miami defeated Fred Niemeyer of Middle Tennessee 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 to capture the men's singles title at the Rolex National Indoor Intercollegiate Tennis Championships, the third leg of the ITCA Grand Slam.

- Duke's Karin Miller won the Rolex National Indoor women's singles title by stopping Katie Schlukebir of Stanford 7-5, 6-0 in the championship match.

SPEAKING

"It is a very tiring, draining experience and I think you should leave at the top. Now is the right time." - Petr Korda, announcing his retirement from the Czech Republic Davis Cup team.

"It looked like the Germans didn't know how to play tennis." Spanish captain Manolo Santana after his squad won the first two singles matches. Spain eventually defeated Germany 4-1.

SIBLING SUPPORT

Brothers Byron and Wayne Black each won both of their singles matches and teamed to capture the doubles to give Zimbabwe a 5-0 victory over Ukraine in an Euro-African Group 1 tie. The victory sends Zimbabwe into a second-round clash against England.

SPECIAL MEDAL

The world's premier doubles team, Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, were awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in recognition of their service to Australia in winning the Olympic gold medal. Woodforde and Woodbridge - the Woodies - won 12 doubles titles in 1996 and finished No. 1 on the ATP Tour team rankings for the third time in the last five years.

STAYING AWAY

Brett Steven has pulled out of New Zealand's next Davis Cup tennis competition in April, preferring to concentrate on lifting his own world singles ranking. Steven was ranked as high as 32nd in the world, only to fall back to his current 137th after suffering several injuries last year.

SOMETHING SPECIAL

French captain Yannick Noah made a lot more friends when, after his 1996 Davis Cup champions lost to Australia in a first-round tie, he took off his prized Davis Cup blazer and presented it to his tennis "hero," Australian Hall of Famer Ken Rosewall.

SOUTH KOREAN STAR

Yoon Yong-il upset Shuzo Matsuoka as South Korea won its two reverse singles matches and beat Japan 3-2 in an Asia-Oceania Zone Group 1 Davis Cup tie. Yoon is ranked 221st in the world; Matsuoka was a quarterfinalist at last year's Wimbledon.

SUFFERING

Steffi Graf has an aggravated patella tendon of the left knee, located at the bottom front of the kneecap, and will miss the Corel WTA tournament at Hanover, Germany.

Monica Seles (broken right index finger) is scheduled to return to action at the Open Gaz de Paris.

Meredith McGrath (right knee) has decided against surgery and hopes to play in the State Farm Evert Cup in Indian Wells, Calif., the week of March 3.

Marianne deSwaardt (right rotator cuff tendinitis) has resumed practicing and is scheduled to play the IGA Classic in Oklahoma City, Okla., the week of Feb. 17.

Janette Husarova (torn right anterior cruciate ligament) will begin rehabilitation in the next few weeks.

Andre Agassi suffered a minor injury during practice and was forced to miss the United States' first-round Davis Cup tie against Brazil.

SUCCESS PREDICTED

Twelve of the finest junior players in the United States have been named to the 1997 U.S. national team. They are: Brandis Braverman of Newport Beach, Calif.; Marissa Irvin, Santa Monica, Calif.; Melissa Middleton, Houston; Aubrie Rippner, Chico, Calif.; Tracy Singian, Boca Raton, Fla.; Alexandra Stevenson, San Diego; Brandon Hawk, Clyde, Texas; Jose Lieberman, Los Angeles; Nathan Overholser, Okemos, Mich.; Andrew Park, San Marino, Calif.; Rodolfo Rake, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Brian Vahaly, Atlanta.

SUPER SERVES

Goran Ivanisevic and Gloria Pizzichini have unloosed the biggest serves so far in 1997, both coming at the Australian Open. Ivanisevic's hardest serve was timed at 130.5 mph, nearly 2 mph faster than the 128.7 serves powered by Boris Becker, Thomas Enqvist and Marc Rosset.

On the women's side, Pizzichini had a serve timed at 107.5 mph, with Helena Sukova at 105.7 and Chanda Rubin at 105.0.

SCHEDULE Tournaments this week

Corel WTA Tour

$450,000 Open Gaz de France, indoor carpet, Paris

ATP Tour

$1,014,250 Dubai Tennis Open 1997, hardcourt, Dubai

$539,250 Open 13, indoor hardcourt, Marseille, France

$303,000 Sybase Open, indoor hardcourt, San Jose, Calif.

Davis Cup

Asia/Oceania Zone Group II

First Round

Feb. 14-16

Thailand at Hong Kong

Tournaments Week of Feb. 17

Corel WTA Tour

$450,000 Faber Grand Prix, indoor carpet, Hanover, Germany

$164,250 IGA Tennis Classic, indoor hardcourt, Oklahoma City, Okla.

ATP Tour

$700,000 Kroger/St. Jude, indoor hardcourt, Memphis, Tenn.

$875,000 European Community Championship, indoor carpet, Antwerp, Belgium

Seniors

Nuveen Tour

Feb. 20-24

Palm Beach, Fla.

Davis Cup

Asia/Oceania Zone Group II

First Round

Feb. 18-20

Lebanon at Saudi Arabia

Feb. 21-23

Iran at Pakistan

Singapore at Chinese Taipei

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