Unknown Stuns Seles Bounced In Second Round By 59th-Ranked Slovakian

Monica Seles made the quickest Grand Slam exit of her career Wednesday at Wimbledon against an unintimidated upstart who mimicked Steffi Graf to perfection.

Katarina Studenikova of Slovakia, packing a stuffed tiger in her racket bag, attacked fearlessly and growled as much as Seles grunted and gasped in retreat during the big points of the 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 second-round upset.

Slicing backhands within inches of the baseline and pummeling forehand winners like Graf, the 59th-ranked Studenikova played the match of her life as she kept the second seed on the defensive and fought back from deficits in the first and third sets.

“I’m not afraid of her,” Studenikova said, voicing an attitude that seems to be sweeping the women’s ranks as Seles struggles with a shoulder injury in an on-and-off comeback from the stabbing attack in Germany three years ago.

Despite Seles’ victory in the Australian Open in January, where she routed Studenikova 6-1, 6-1, and her first grass-court win last week in Eastbourne, Seles is far from her old self. She lacks the stamina and steadiness she once had, along with the precision and timing that come from playing each week. And, perhaps more than anything, she’s missing the killer look and go-for-broke attitude that always distinguished her style.

“It just comes down to close points,” said Seles, who lost in the quarters of the French a few weeks ago with a similarly timid and erratic game. “I have to go for them like I did before, really fiercely, and that’s not what I’m doing right now.”

Seles, winner of nine of the 18 Grand Slam tournaments she’s played, hadn’t lost so early in a major since going out in the third round of the 1990 U.S. Open.

Boris Becker, the men’s No. 2 seed, avoided the rash of upsets, rallying to beat Thomas Carbonell 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 and reach the third round.

The latest men’s upset victim was No. 9 Thomas Enqvist, ousted by American MaliVai Washington 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

Enqvist’s elimination left only four of the top 10 seeds in the tournament. No. 3 Andre Agassi, No. 5 Yevgeny Kafelnikov, No. 6 Michael Chang and No. 8 Jim Courier all lost in the first round, while No. 7 Thomas Muster withdrew before the tournament with an injury.

Seles didn’t blame her loss on the pain in her shoulder, and said she still wants to wait until after the U.S. Open to decide about surgery to repair a tear.

“I really want to wait because I want to play in the Olympics,” she said. “I don’t think it affected my loss today. I mean, she just clearly played better than I did, and she wasn’t making so many unforced errors. She was going more for her shots, and on grass you have to do that.”

Doug Flach, the 281st-ranked qualifier who stunned Andre Agassi in the first round, continued his run with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 win over Jared Palmer.

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, the women’s No. 4, advanced with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Miriam Oremans. No. 5 Anke Huber routed Pam Shriver 6-2, 6-1 in 48 minutes on Centre Court. It may have been the last Wimbledon singles match for Shriver, a 33-year-old wild-card entry playing this tournament for the 17th time.

“I’m not saying for sure this was my last singles, but I think it probably most likely is,” she said.

Shriver, who cried in the locker room before the match, ended it with an embarrassing double fault. She shanked her second serve so badly that the ball bounced over the net.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: At a glance Winners: Men - No. 10 Michael Stich, No. 2 Boris Becker, No. 11 Wayne Ferreira and No. 13 Todd Martin. Women - No. 4 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, No. 5 Anke Huber, No. 9 Mary Joe Fernandez and No. 11 Brenda Schultz-McCarthy. Upsets: Slovakia’s Katarina Studenikova beat No. 2 Monica Seles of the U.S., American Meredith McGrath beat No. 14 Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, Argentine Ines Gorrochategui beat No. 15 Irina Spirlea of Romania, and American MaliVai Washington beat No. 9 Thomas Enqvist of Sweden.