OAKLAND, Calif. -- In a jewel of a match, Venus Williams staked a bold claim on the future of women's tennis.
For a set and a half last night, the 14-year-old Williams dominated Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, the U.S. Open and French Open champion, more thoroughly than any player this year except Steffi Graf.
Sanchez Vicario came back from a 1-6 first-set loss to Graf in the U.S. Open final, and this time she found herself trailing 2-6, 1-3 to a tall, lanky kid she had never seen before and couldn't quite figure out.
It mattered not that Williams eventually tired and lost 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the second-round match at the Bank of the West tournament. If ever a player scored a triumph in defeat, Williams accomplished exactly that. She appeared to justify all the hoopla that has surrounded her since she gave up junior tournament play undefeated three years ago.
Williams looked every inch a poised professional in only her second match. Right to the end she attacked fearlessly, going out on her own terms.
"I'm not sure I'll ever have anything to fear," Williams said. "I guess maybe I'm just too young right now."
Paris Open
PARIS -- A moment's hesitation caused Jim Courier to lose the match.
After finishing in the top three at the end of 1993, Courier will end 1994 outside the top 10 after Mark Woodforde beat him 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 in the second round of the Paris Open on yesterday.
Woodforde took the first set with the help of a new rule allowing fans to shout and move during points.
At 6-3 in the tiebreaker, a fan yelled when Woodforde served. Courier didn't move for the ball, and chair umpire Rudi Berger ruled that it was a ace, ending the set.
Woodforde went to the sidelines. Courier waited on court for at least a minute, hoping that the point would be replayed, before heading to his seat for the changeover.
Pete Sampras and Boris Becker both survived first-set scares to Dutch players before winning. The top-seeded Sampras downed Jacco Eltingh 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 and the sixth-seeded Becker, fresh from a tournament victory in Stockholm , ousted Paul Haarhuis 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Guy Forget of France, who won here in 1991, advanced when last year's finalist, Andrei Medvedev of the Ukraine, had to retire from their second-round match with an elbow injury.