Mary Joe Fernandez

Chanda Rubin, suffering from a stress fracture in a wrist that has kept her off the WTA tour for more than a month, will not be able to realize her dream of playing in the Olympics. Rubin, seeded seventh, withdrew Saturday because of the injury and will be replaced by Mary Joe Fernandez, a bronze medalist in singles at the Barcelona Games. Fernandez, who won a gold medal with Gigi Fernandez in 1992, also will play doubles, again with Gigi Fernandez.

With the loss of Mary Joe Fernandez in the fourth round on Tuesday came this sobering statistic: For first time since 1913, no American woman has advanced to the Wimbledon quarterfinals. A motivated, confident Jana Novotna is a dangerous opponent, as Fernandez learned. So, too, are nearsighted linesmen. Fernandez, seeded 11th, was on the receiving end of several questionable calls in her match against third-seeded Novotna, who won, 5-7, 6-4, 7-5.

There will be an empty seat at the Carrollton School graduation exercises Wednesday in Miami. That is where the schoolmates of Mary Joe Fernandez will gather to receive their diplomas, but she won't be there. Three years after she turned pro at 14, Fernandez reached the highest point of her part-time career on a blustery Sunday at Roland Garros when she defeated Gabriela Sabatini, 6-4, 6-4. It was a victory that propelled the 17-year-old Floridian into the French Open quarterfinals while continuing her uncanny dominance over the tournament's second-seeded player.

It had to occur to many of the estimated 10,000 people watching Lindsay Davenport's 6-1, 6-1 thrashing of Mary Joe Fernandez in a semifinal of the State Farm Evert Cup tournament Friday that something other than lopsided tennis was going on. In all likelihood, there was. Davenport, 20, is five years younger, hits the ball five times harder, and was five times more effective than Fernandez with everything she tried on this typically dry and scorching day in the desert.

Mary Joe Fernandez, who reached the final in the Australian Open, withdrew from next week's Virginia Slims of Indian Wells because of a shoulder injury.

Top-seeded Mary Joe Fernandez advanced to the final of the Virginia Slims Hall of Fame Invitational with a 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (13-11) victory over Peanut Louie Harper. Fernandez faces Zina Garrison in the final.

The Fernandez women of the U.S. tennis team, not family but playing like it, won their second consecutive Olympic gold medal in doubles Saturday. Gigi and Mary Joe, similar both in name and doubles skills, beat Jana Novotna and Helena Sukova of the Czech Republic, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4. The match ended, fittingly, with doubles veteran Gigi Fernandez serving, bending low for a tough half-volley and then putting away the match point with a forehand volley.

Chanda Rubin, suffering from a stress fracture in a wrist that has kept her off the WTA tour for more than a month, will not be able to realize her dream of playing in the Olympics. Rubin, seeded seventh, withdrew Saturday because of the injury and will be replaced by Mary Joe Fernandez, a bronze medalist in singles at the Barcelona Games. Fernandez, who won a gold medal with Gigi Fernandez in 1992, also will play doubles, again with Gigi Fernandez.

Friends who meet at work don't often have this problem. Best friends Lindsay Davenport and Mary Joe Fernandez will go to their office today and each will make a concerted effort to eliminate the other one from the most important tennis tournament in the world. Davenport, Wimbledon's seventh-seeded woman, and Fernandez, No. 13, came off their separate courts at almost the same time on Saturday and found each other in the locker room.

It's best to expect the unexpected when playing Natasha Zvereva. The intelligent opponent would do well to determine what the high percentage shot is in any given situation and then assume that Zvereva will do the opposite. Such was Zvereva's tactical choice in Monday's final of the $430,000 State Farm Evert Cup. The trouble with a high-risk game is, when imagination and talent fail, not even the odds are on your side.

Lindsay Davenport, a high school junior who turned pro last week at Indian Wells, upset third-seeded Gabriela Sabatini, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1, in the third round at the Virginia Slims of Florida at Delray Beach. Top-seeded Steffi Graf, No. 2 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and No. 4 Mary Joe Fernandez also advanced to the quarterfinals in straight sets.

It's not Steffi vs. Jennifer or even Monica vs. anybody, only two lawyers' daughters you have to sue to get off the baseline. Yes, it's Mary Joe Fernandez, whose father is a lawyer in Miami, versus Amanda Coetzer, whose father is a lawyer in Hoopstad, South Africa, presenting final arguments today in the Matrix Essentials/Evert Cup.