KRAJICEK GIVEN SCARE BY UNKNOWN WEINER.

Byline: Joe Jares Daily News Staff Writer

Richard Krajicek was the 1996 Wimbledon champion. Twice he has won pro titles in Los Angeles. This year he is the No. 4 seed in the Infiniti Open and ranked No. 15 in the world.

Glenn Weiner is a nobody, a qualifier for the Infiniti who has been hacking around in the backwaters of pro tennis. He is ranked 280th in the world.

Better make that was a nobody.

Krajicek, the first player in the top 100 Weiner has ever played, had to save four match points late in the third set Thursday night to win 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (5).

``It was the best match of my life,'' said Weiner. ``It's a thrill to play a top player. It's a dream to play here in front of my home crowd, in front of my mom.

``Wow! Wow! It was a great experience.''

The 10th game of the third set was thrilling.

The set was on serve, Weiner ahead 5-4, but Krajicek was serving to even the score. Krajicek got ahead 40-30. Then it went to deuce, as it was to do seven more times.

Four times the 21-year-old Weiner got match point of what perhaps would be the upset of the year in tennis. Four times Krajicek staved off defeat: Weiner hit a backhand return into the net, couldn't handle a serve to his forehand, hit a forehand return into the net and hit a backhand return into the net.

Krajicek's terrific serve got him out of trouble.

The set went to 6-6 and the tiebreaker was close. At 5-5, Weiner hit a low backhand volley into the net. And at match point for Krajicek, Weiner couldn't handle another rocket serve from the Dutchman.

Just who is Weiner?

He was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and moved to Long Beach at the age of 10. He went to Long Beach Poly High School for two years but then switched to Nick Bollettieri's tennis academy in Florida when he was 16.

This is his first year on the ATP Tour. He won a Challenger doubles title in Brazil and won satellite tournaments in Mexico and Greece.

To get into the main draw of the Infiniti, he had to win three matches in the qualifying, defeating Reed Cordish, Cuban expatriate Roberto Rodriguez and Laurence Tieleman of Italy.

In the first round of the main draw, he beat Stanford sophomore Bob Bryan, another qualifier, 6-4, 6-3.

Krajicek and most people in the crowd didn't have the faintest idea before the match who Weiner was.

They know now. He's a second-round loser, but he's no nobody.

Cruising: After Wimbledon, many players took a long break. Patrick Rafter rested at home in Bermuda, Mark Philippoussis rested at home in Melbourne.

The Infiniti Open's top seed, Goran Ivanisevic, touched a racket only once in three weeks -- for a charity exhibition match against Michael Stich.