Tennis Glance

Tuesday, May 20, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

By BOB GREENE

AP Sports Writer

STARS

- Alex Corretja captured the Italian Open by defeating Marcelo Rios 7-5, 7-5, 6-3.

- Mary Joe Fernandez stopped Mary Pierce 6-4, 6-2 to win the German Open.

- Virginia Ruano-Pascual won the Welsh International Ladies Open in Cardiff, Wales, downing Alexia Dechaume-Balleret 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.

SPEAKING

"When I'm playing tennis I'm not this nice guy that everyone imagines me to be. I'm cold and ruthless. As far as I'm concerned, it's kill or be killed." - Britain's Tim Henman, explaining how he views playing on the ATP Tour.

"I think this tournament is a little bit soon for me to play my best." - Steffi Graf on making her comeback at the German Open, where she suffered the worst loss of her career, 6-0, 6-1 to Amanda Coetzer.

"Obviously this is not an easy way to get into the tournament." - Pete Sampras on having to play and losing to Jim Courier in a first-round match at the Italian Open.

"A lot of big names have come and gone and I'm still here." - Mary Joe Fernandez, who survived a field that included 16 of the world's top 20 players to win the German Open.

"I'm almost a national hero this week." - Davide Scala, a qualifier who reached the third round of Italian Open, becoming the only Italian player to win a main draw match at the Foro Italico this year.

"The harder I tried, the worse I was playing. I ran out of gas." - Mary Pierce, after losing the German Open final.

SAN MARINO STAMP

The San Marino government has issued a stamp honoring the ATP Tour, a first for the governing body of the men's professional tennis tour. San Marino tournament director Remo Raimondi, ATP Tour chief executive officer Mark Miles and ATP Tour board member Franco Bartoni were on hand in Rome for the ceremonies.

SPECIAL HELP?

Mary Pierce has reached the final in four of the six tournaments she has played this year - the Australian Open; Amelia Island, Fla.; the Italian Open and the German Open, winning in Rome. The last three have come since she began working with Martina Navratilova's old coach, Craig Kardon.

SUPER TOGETHER

Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and Daniel Nestor of Canada are now ranked No. 2 in the world in doubles on the ATP Tour computer. They combined to win the Italian Open title, their eighth career doubles crown together, by defeating Byron Black of Zimbabwe and Alex O'Brien of Amarillo, Texas, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

STANFORD WOMEN NO. 1

Playing on their home court, the Stanford women's tennis team avenged its only loss of the season by defeating top-seeded Florida 5-1 to win the NCAA Division I championship.

STONE MOUNTAIN REDUX

The U.S. Women's Hardcourt Championships will be held Aug. 16-23 at the International Tennis Center at Stone Mountain Park, returning to the Corel WTA Tour calendar after a two-year absence. The tournament site is where the Olympic tennis was held during the Atlanta Games last year.

SCHEDULE Tournaments this week

Corel WTA Tour

$250,000 Internationaux de Strasbourg, clay, Strasbourg, France

$175,000 Open Paginas Amarillas Villa de Madrid, clay, Madrid, Spain

$188,125 World Doubles Cup, clay, Edinburgh, Scotland

ATP Tour

$1,900,000 Peugeot ATP Tour World Teams Championship, clay, Dusseldorf, Germany

$425,000 Internationler Raiffeisen Grand Prix, clay, St. Polten, Austria Tournaments week of May 26

Corel WTA Tour

French Open, clay, Paris

ATP Tour

French Open, clay, Paris