NEW YORK -- Mary Pierce is sitting with friends in the players lounge at the U.S. Open when she's interrupted. She and Orioles second baseman Roberto Alomar have been an item for about a year, and rumors have been swirling.

Are you and Alomar engaged, she's asked?

"Don't you know?" said Pierce, who was in good spirits after advancing to the third round with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Cara Black. "Don't you know? We're already married with two children."

And then she laughed happily as she flashed her left hand, on which she is wearing a ring with seven diamonds. She also has been seen wearing another diamond ring.

Did Alomar give her the ring she was wearing?

"Yes," she said.

When? "At Christmas."

So, are they engaged?

"When we have something to announce," she said, with another happy laugh, "we'll announce it."

118th U.S. Open

When: Through Sept. 13

Where: National Tennis Center, New York

TV: 11 a.m., 7: 30 p.m., USA

Today's featured matches:

Day session, begins 11 a.m. Arthur Ashe Stadium

Jana Novotna (3) vs. Sandrine Testud

Tommy Haas vs. Yevgeny Kafelnikov (11)

Mirjana Lucic vs. Steffi Graf (8)

Annie Miller vs. Monica Seles (6)

Stadium 2

Annie Miller vs. Monica Seles (6)

Richard Krajicek (5) vs. Alex O'Brien

Giorgio Galimberti vs. Marcelo Rios (2)

Martina Hingis (1) vs. Amelie Mauresmo

Stadium 3

Tim Henman (13), Britain, vs. Felix Mantilla, Spain

Night session, begins 7: 30 p.m. Arthur Ashe Stadium

Serena Williams vs. Irina Spirlea (9)

Michael Chang vs. Carlos Moya (10)

Pub Date: 9/04/98