| CARLSBAD, Calif. (AP) -- Unheralded Amy Frazier turned
in a dominating performance and stunned top-ranked Martina Hingis 6-3,
6-3 Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the $535,000 Acura Classic.
Frazier, ranked 26th, peppered Hingis with powerful groundstrokes as
she easily handled the 19-year-old. The victory was Frazier's first against
a top-ranked player.
``I'm very shocked and very happy with the way I played,'' Frazier said.
``It was just one of the days. I felt really good and everything was just
going my way.''
The upset scuttled the expected semifinal matchup between Hingis and
third-ranked Venus Williams, who advanced with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over
Conchita Martinez.
Hingis, winner of five Grand Slam titles, had never lost in four career
meetings against Frazier.
When it became apparent midway through the first set that Frazier was
in a groove, Hingis began trying various strategies to throw her off. She
came to the net, hit with more top spin, even threw in a few moon balls.
But nothing seemed to bother Frazier.
``She played very well,'' Hingis said. ``In the beginning, I had a lot
of opportunities not to let her in. That was my mistake.''
After Frazier took the first set, she began pounding winners with more
authority. Ahead 3-2, Frazier scored one of her six breaks against Hingis
when she hit a running forehand winner off a drop shot.
``I tried pretty much everything,'' Hingis said. ``She just wouldn't
miss anything.''
After each player held serve, Frazier closed out the match when Hingis'
drop shot fell into the net.
In other second-round matches, Nathalie Tauziat of France beat Russia's
Elena Likhovtseva 6-1, 6-2 and Sandrine Testud of France was a 6-2, 6-2
winner over Tatiana Panova of Russia.
Williams toyed with Martinez as she broke her serve in all eight games.
The reigning Wimbledon champion seemed bored at times during the match.
``My mind did wander sometimes,'' Williams said of the 51-minute match.
``I was thinking about different things. I felt comfortable and confident,
maybe that's the reason I missed a few shots.''
The match was so sloppy in the first set, that when Williams won her
service game to go ahead 3-1, it was the only time neither player's serve
was broken.
``I was a little erratic,'' Williams said. ``In the first set, I was
having a tough time holding serve because there was too much sun out there.
After I looked up in the sun, I couldn't see the ground strokes.''
Martinez knew early on that she had virtually no chance to beat the
hard-hitting Williams. The Spaniard, whose serve has always been the weakest
part of her game, hit most of her first serves slower than Williams' average
second serve.
``Until I can figure out how I can serve better,'' she said, ``it's
going to be difficult to beat some of the top player.''
Martinez, hampered by shoulder and wrist injuries, was so ineffective
that she won just 18 of 55 points on her serve.
Once Williams got her ground strokes straightened out in the second
set, it was merely a matter of how long it would take to finish off the
sixth-ranked Martinez.
``She's hitting the ball very hard,'' said Martinez, the French Open
runner-up. ``She overpowered me, for sure.''
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