Tennis: Pierce's strokes become broader: The rising star of France burns brighter in the Autoglass Classic

LIFE appears to have brightened considerably for Mary Pierce during her disruptive father's banishment from tournaments since June. Only last Sunday the 18-year-old was presented with a Porsche Carrera by the sponsor after winning the event in Filderstadt.

Even so, the women's game awaits confirmation of the Canadian-born French player's potential with victories against players ranked above her. While the sponsors of the event here at the Brighton Centre could replace a Porsche windscreen in a jiffy, the ravages of injuries and sickness have reduced to two the number of those ahead of Pierce competing in the Autoglass Classic.

Anke Huber, the world No 10, is a prospective semi-final opponent, and Jana Novotna, the No 8, gives every indication of being the player to beat in the final. She romped into the quarter- finals yesterday, defeating Claudia Porwick, of Germany, 6-1, 6-0.

This happened shortly after Pierce had completed her first- round match with a 6-3, 6-2 win against Nancy Feber, the 17-year- old Wimbledon junior champion from Belgium. Feber is out- ranked by the world No 14 by 117 spots on the computer, and is also nine inches shorter than the 5ft 11in Pierce.

Though Feber has not won a car, she did receive an airline ticket from Europe to the United States after winning a game of musical chairs at the players' party during last month's tournament in Leipzig. They are not playing that game here, trusting that all the seats will be occupied when the event moves towards Sunday's climax.

Pierce hopes to be in contention, particularly since each match she wins will take her a step closer to another benchmark, qualification for the tour- end Virginia Slims Championships at Madison Square Garden next month.

On her last visit to New York, in September, Pierce managed to keep an appointment with Steffi Graf in the fourth round of the United States Open, and was trounced, 6-1, 6-0. Amnesia set in. 'I don't know where Mary Pierce was,' she said afterwards. 'Perhaps on a desert island somewhere. Certainly not out there playing tennis.'

She continues to close her mind to the experience. 'I don't pay any attention to that match I played against Steffi. It was pretty terrible. Afterwards I just went to Florida and worked pretty hard on my game. I still want to improve every part of my play, most of all my footwork and being prepared to come in to the net more.'

Her hitting partner is Raoul Ordenez, a Columbian who has worked with Andre Agassi and Monica Seles. Session by session, Pierce is endeavouring to broaden the scope of her game, which is fashioned, like so many nowadays, on groundstrokes from the baseline.

'When I practised with my father he had a way he wanted me to play especially, and I was just concentrating on those things,' she said. 'I'm pretty happy with the way things are going now. I feel I will have a better chance against top 10 players.'

AUTOGLASS WOMEN'S CLASSIC (Brighton): Singles, first round: P Fendick (US) bt N Arendt (US)

6-4 6-3; E Smylie (Aus) bt A Strnadova (Cz Rep) 7-5 6-3; M Pierce (Fr) bt N Feber (Bel) 6-3 6-2; N Medvedeva (Ukr) bt A Henricksson (US) 6-4 6-3. Second round: J Novotna (Cz Rep) bt C Porwik (Ger) 6-1 6-0; C Singer (Ger) bt L Neiland (Lat) 6-4

6-2; K Maleeva (Bul) bt L Golarsa (It) 6-3 6-2.

(Photograph omitted)