OPENOVA.(Brief Article)

As the Williams sisters shot relentlessly toward titledom at the U.S. Open last week, the Russian competition spent their time, when not playing or practicing, in the players' lounge, eating yogurt and pizza. They were fast out of the gate in Round One: nine of them were winners.

The advancing Russians, almost all with two-handed backhands and hearty first serves, were Elena Dementieva, twenty; Vera Zvonareva, seventeen; Anastasia Myskina, twenty-one; Svetlana Kuznetsova, seventeen; Elena Bovina, nineteen; Elena Likhovtseva, twentysix; Tatiana Panova, twenty-six; Anna Smashnova, twenty-six (who is actually from Belarus); and Dinara Safina, sixteen, the latest of the "ovas," "evas," and "inas" to turn pro.

Safina is five feet eleven and a half inches tall and still growing, and, like most of her colleagues, she has big blue eyes and blond hair in a ponytail. Her older brother, Marat Safin, is seeded second in the tournament, and she seems to have taken on his jocky swagger. Her mother, Rausa Islanova, has been her coach, and her father, Misha Safin, is the director of a tennis club in Moscow.

The other day, Safina rocked coolly into the players' lounge after a practice, followed by her mother. Instead of a tennis racquet, Safina was carrying a copy of "Anna Karenina," in Russian. "I just started reading this book," she said. She opened the book to the first page and pointed to the first line--"I read already, 'Happy families all alike; every unhappy family unhappy in own way.' I did not read more yet, so I do not know yet if I like Tolstoy. I must read book for school, special school I am in, when we go to live in Valencia, Spain, where it is warm, good for tennis. I study only Russian, English, and mathematics. I will know, maybe, if I like Tolstoy." She gave a Russian shrug. Rausa Islanova pursed her lips and nodded, somewhat sadly.

"My family is good, happy family," Safina went on. "Marat is good brother. Sometimes I go watch him practice. I don't see him watch me when I practice. My mom watches me, she says, 'Move your legs!' "

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