WTA NOTEBOOK: SERENA, VENUS TAKE THEIR TIME.

Byline: Ramona Shelburne Staff Writer

No one has come up with a fail-safe strategy to defeat the Williams sisters yet, but Kim Clijsters of Belgium might just be on to something.

``If they would play every tournament and get tired, then maybe they would lose a few matches,'' said Clijsters, the No. 5 seed at this week's Women's Tennis Championships at Staples Center who breezed past Chanda Rubin 6-1, 6-2 in her first-round match Wednesday.

In 2002, Serena Williams has played in only 12 tournaments, Venus 15. Clijsters has played in 20 despite suffering a broken right arm in January at the Australian Open and missing six weeks.

Of the 14 other players in the championships, only Lindsay Davenport (8), who missed nine months with a knee injury, has played in fewer tournaments than the Williamses.

However, in her 12 tournaments, Serena has stacked up 5,596 championship points in the WTA Tour ranking race and $3,275,826 in prize money. If, as expected, she captures the championship Monday night and the winner's share of $765,000, Serena will become the first $4 million winner in women's tennis.

If Clijsters is right about rest being one of the keys to the Williams sisters' success, the rest of the tournament field should be on guard.

After winning the U.S. Open in August, Serena played two tournaments in September (Tokyo and Leipzig, Germany) but withdrew from three tournaments citing fatigue. Venus hasn't played since Oct. 3, when she fell to Magdalena Maleeva in the Moscow final.

Serena, though, has a different take.

``It's hard because there's a tournament every week on this tour,'' she said. ``Every tournament wants a piece of you because they want to advertise your name. They want you there.

``They don't realize, especially for me, I don't necessarily play a Grand Slam more tough than I do any other tournament; I try to play each place as strong as I can. For me, sometimes, it gets tiring to have to go play another week, to have to start all over. I get to the finals every time. I'll win quite often, where as opposed to someone else might get to the third round.

``Maybe it's easier for them. But if you're playing more matches, it's kind of hard to play week in and week out and still keep motivated. For me it is, personally.''

--Pride of a nation: It was so quiet inside Staples Center during the daytime sessions Wednesday it was more like a golf tournament. The afternoon crowd of around 500 wasn't exactly inspiring to tournament directors hoping for a large turnout in the first year the WTA Championships have come to Los Angeles.

What little cheering there was came from a section of bright-red-clothed fans seated just behind what would be the south basketball backboard, cheering their hearts out for Belgian heroines Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters.

``There were about six Belgian people sitting a little bit up in the stands. They were more vocal than all the people put together,'' Clijsters said. ``I think a lot of people have to work during the day. I'm sure tonight when Monica (Seles) and Lindsay (Davenport) are playing, I think or hope there will be a lot of people.''

The fourth-seeded Henin, who beat Elena Dementieva of Russia 6-3, 6-3 in the first match of the day, will face Clijsters in the quarterfinals Friday. They have split their previous eight meetings, with Henin winning most recently 7-5, 6-2 in the semifinals in Rome.

Before she broke her arm, Clijsters defeated Henin 6-2, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. In the semifinals, Clijsters lost to eventual champion Jennifer Capriati 7-5, 3-6, 6-1.

TODAY'S MATCHES

12:30 p.m. - No. 9 Anastasia Myskina (Russia) vs. No. 8 Jelena Dokic (Yugoslavia); No. 15 Magdalena Maleeva (Bulgaria) vs. No. 7 Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia)

7 p.m. - No. 1 Serena Williams (United States) vs. No. 14 Anna Smashnova (Israel); No. 3 Jennifer Capriati (United States) vs. No. 11 Silvia Farina Elia (Italy)

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

Kim Clijsters of Belgium beat American Chanda Rubin 6-1, 6-2 on Wednesday with a small but vocal crowd on her side.

Reed Saxon/Associated Press

Box:

TODAY'S MATCHES (see text)