Tennis: Krizan upsets established order

THAT IS the thing about women's tennis: it is so unpredictable. Just when it appeared all 16 seeds would take their allotted places in the third round of the DFS Classic yesterday a bolt from the blue arrived in the shape of the defeat of Meredith McGrath, writes Guy Hodgson from Edgbaston.

McGrath is 38th in the world but Tina Krizan, the 175th-ranked Slovenian, turned the tables to the tune of 6-4, 6-3. The American lost her opening serve and was chasing a lost cause from then on.

McGrath's demise apart, it was a less than encouraging day to push the theory that women's tennis had the chance element of a lottery, but Clare Wood tried. The British No 1 would not accept the top six were all but impregnable to anyone outside the top 30.

'Martina (Navratilova) lost to Kristine Radford here last year and she was well outside the top 100,' Wood said. 'And Capriati was beaten in the US Open when she was playing full time.' Somehow two surprises did not make a wholly convincing argument.

More convincing was her 6-2, 6-3 win over her fellow Briton Shirli- Ann Siddall. It was not as easy as the score suggests as most games went to deuce, but nevertheless, it was a comprehensive show of superiority.

Wood will now meet Brenda Schultz, whose thunderous serve and volleys disposed of Elizabeth Smylie 6-3, 6-2 yesterday.

Britain's other representative, Julie Pullin, was 5-2 up against the 13th seed Elna Reinach but that was the high tide of her performance and she lost 7-5, 6-2.