Tennis Glance

Monday, Nov. 9, 1998 | 5:10 a.m.

By BOB GREENE

AP Sports Writer

STARS

- Steffi Graf defeated Nathalie Tauziat 6-3, 6-4 to capture the Sparkassen Cup in Leipzig, Germany.

- Greg Rusedski won the Paris Open by downing Pete Sampras 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 in Paris.

- Mariano Zabaleta captured his first ATP Tour title, the Colombia Open, when he stopped Ramon Delgado 6-4, 6-4 in Bogota, Colombia.

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SPEAKING

"Tennis is my life. I have need of the fabulous emotions playing tennis gives me." - Steffi Graf, announcing she will play in 1999.

"I definitely think it's the biggest match of my career." - Greg Rusedski, after beating Pete Sampras in the final of the Paris Open.

"It never ends. You never feel like the season is over." - Pete Sampras, pleading for fewer tournaments and more time off.

"If I want it to be a rivalry, I have to win more matches. It's up to me." - Venus Williams, on her playing Lindsay Davenport.

"Everyone has been so supportive. I mean, everyone on the street, getting cards and letters from fellow players, fans around the world, old friends. The response has really been quite overwhelming." - Lindsay Davenport, on what it's been like since becoming No. 1.

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STAR-STUDDED CELEBRATION

The official celebration of the 25th anniversary of Billie Jean King's victory over Bobby Riggs in their historic Battle of the Sexes will be held Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 21-22, in Hartford, Conn., in conjunction with the season-ending Phoenix ATP Tour world Doubles Championships. Helping King celebrate with a special doubles tournament will be Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Tracy Austin, Zina Garrison, Wendy Turnbull, Rosie Casals, Ilana Kloss, Mary Carillo and Wendy Overton.

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SPARKLING STEFFI

In her first tournament since undergoing wrist surgery, Steffi Graf captured her 105th career singles title, the most among active players, and became the all-time prize money earnings leader in women's professional sports. The victory also moved Graf into 17th place in her pursuit of a spot in the season-ending Chase Championships, which is limited to the top 16 players, and marked the first time Graf has won a WTA Tour event as an unseeded player. Graf currently owns a 19-match unbeaten streak in completed WTA Tour finals, giving her a lifetime mark of 105-29 when she has reached a title match. The last player to defeat Graf in a full best-of-3-set final was Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario at the 1994 US Open.

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SIDELINED

A left knee injury forced Australia's Patrick Rafter out of the season-ending ATP Tour World Championships in Hanover, Germany, later this month, ending his quest to finish the season as the world's No. 1 tennis player. Rafter has been bothered by the injury since capturing his second straight U.S. Open title in September. Since then, he has won only six of 11 matches.

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SITE TO SEE

The United States will travel to Zagreb, Croatia, for its first-round KB Fed Cup match April 17-18. The Croatian tennis Association selected the Dom Sportova in Zagreb as the location for the first Fed Cup meeting between these two nations in the women's international team competition.

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STANDOUTS

Harvard sophomore James Brown and University of San Diego junior Zuzana Lesenarova have been named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national players of the month for October. Blake was also honored in doubles along with Kunj Majmudar, while Stanford's Teryn Ashley and Marissa Irvin were named ITA national women's doubles team of the month. Blake became the first Ivy Leaguer to win either the ITA All-American Championships singles or doubles title when he captured both at the University of Texas.

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Although claiming there are too many tournaments on the schedule now, Pete Sampras asked for and received a wild card to play the Stockholm Open as he bids to end the year ranked No. 1 for a record sixth straight time. While pleading for time off, Sampras admitted "the problem is that guys like to play a lot of tennis." Sampras also asked for and received wild cards to play in Zurich, Switzerland, and Vienna, Austria. It is the first time since 1990 that he has competed in at least six straight tournaments.

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SEASON-ENDERS

By reaching the final in Leipzig, Germany, Nathalie Tauziat clinched a spot in the 16-player singles field at next week's season-ending Chase Championships of the Corel WTA Tour in New York. Tauziat, a finalist at Wimbledon, and her partner, Alexandra Fusai, qualified a couple of weeks ago for the doubles at Madison Square Garden.

Karol Kucera is the latest player to qualify for the ATP Tour World Championships, an eight-man year-end tournament which will be held in Hanover, Germany, later this month. The final two spots will be decided this week at Stockholm, Sweden, and Moscow.

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SAY WHO?

When Greg Rusedski won the Paris Open, he became the first British player to defeat Pete Sampras since Jeremy Bates did it in 1988 at Rye Brook, N.Y., a warmup tournament for the U.S. Open.

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SITES TO SURF

Philadelphia: www.tennisphiladelphia.net

Stockholm: www.stockholmopen.se

World Doubles: www.phl.com/

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Tournaments this week

ATP Tour

$1,125,000 MGTS Kremlin Cup, carpet, Moscow

$800,000 Scania Stockholm Open, hard, Stockholm, Sweden

$315,000 Chevrolet Cup, clay, Santiago, Chile

Corel WTA Tour