Experience Pays for Frazier, Pierce

CARLSBAD —  Amy Frazier and Mary Pierce, WTA Tour veterans that they are, espouse the virtues of experience, and Sunday they both benefited from it.

Frazier, 31, defeated Petra Mandula of Hungary, 6-4, 6-4, and Pierce, 29, beat Claudine Schaul of Luxembourg, 6-4, 6-2, in impressive first-round performances by two of the oldest players in the Acura Classic tournament at La Costa Resort and Spa.

“There’s nothing really that complicated about what I do,” said Frazier, who, at No. 19 in the world, has equaled her highest tour ranking since reaching the same spot in 1999. “I love to play, and I go out and play. I think it’s so fun, trying to figure out a way to win a match.”

Frazier, who achieved a career-high ranking of No. 13 in 1995, won a close first set, and then broke Mandula’s serve for a 3-1 lead in the second set. She won on her serve the next game to go up 4-1 and then rebuffed a comeback attempt by the 26-year-old Mandula.

“I was really happy with the way I played,” said Frazier, the next oldest player in the tournament behind 32-year-olds Conchita Martinez and Silvia Farina Elia.

Frazier’s victory made up for a 7-6 (1), 7-6 (3) loss to Mandula in the pair’s only previous meeting, at Amelia Island, Fla., in April.

Pierce, the 2000 French Open and 1995 Australian Open champion, was playing in her first event since a first-round loss at Wimbledon, but she showed poise and resilience after being broken in the third game of the first set. She broke back the next game and then came back from a love-40 deficit in the last game to win the set. Pierce took control of the second set and the match with a break of Schaul in the third game and then held for an insurmountable 4-1 advantage.

“I think experience goes a long way, especially when you have close matches and close points,” Pierce said.

In other matches, two-time NCAA singles champion Amber Liu of Stanford, of nearby La Mesa and a wild-card entrant who played as an amateur, was ousted by Jelena Jankovic, 7-6 (4), 6-0. Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic defeated Farina Elia, 6-2, 6-4. Paola Suarez of Argentina beat Aniko Kapros, 6-1, 6-3; Marion Bartoli defeated Vilmarie Castellvi, 6-1, 6-1; Tamarine Tanasugarn topped Anne Kremer, 6-3, 6-2; and Jelena Kostanic beat Anca Barna, 6-2, 6-1.

Pierce now takes a more seasoned view of her career and 20-year-old opponents like Schaul.

“I just have increased calmness, increased maturity and self-confidence, I think, and that’s the difference between when you’re younger and you don’t have that experience,” Pierce said. “I just appreciate everything, all the little things, most of all.”