By BUD L. ELLIS

The Brunswick News

The second annual Cloister Cup women's tennis tournament will feature two players ranked in the top 100 in the world ... and one ranked in every man's top 10.

Anna Kournikova, the most popular female tennis player never to win a championship, will play in the United States Tennis Association Professional Circuit event, May 4-11 at The Cloister tennis facility on Sea Island.

"This will be a huge thing for us," said Sea Island teaching pro Dickie Anderson. "It's unheard of at this level to have a player like her."

Kournikova, ranked No. 67 in the world, is recovering from a torn abductor muscle in her thigh. The injury forced her to retire in the second set of her opening-round match at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, S.C., April 9 against Conchita Martinez.

She was scheduled to play in a USTA circuit tournament in Dothan, Ala., this week, but withdrew Thursday from the $75,000 event. Her participation in the Cloister Cup, a $25,000 event, is part of her rehabilitation from the injury, as she prepare for the year's second Grand Slam event, the French Open, starting May 26 in Paris.

Along with Kournikova, Amy Frazier and Ansley Cargill also are top-100 players entered in the Cloister Cup. Frazier is ranked No. 43; Cargill No. 93.

But nobody will attract more attention than Kournikova, the 21-year-old Russian blonde who has yet to win a Women's Tennis Association singles event, yet is one of the sports world's most recognizable figures for her off-the-court exploits, namely modeling and dating. Currently, she's seeing singer Enrique Iglesias, and in the past has dated NHL stars Sergei Fedorov and Pavel Bure.

Having somebody with the star power of Kournikova is a tremendous boost to the Cloister Cup, Anderson said.

"It's a bonanza that's fell into everybody's lap," he said. "I pray every night to make sure nothing happens, but I get the gut feeling she's coming unless she reinjures it between now and then."

Kournikova is 186-124 in her career in singles, 45-29 on clay, the surface she will play on at Sea Island. She is just 1-5 this season, the one victory coming over Henrieta Nagyova in the first round of the Australian Open. Kournikova then lost in round two to Justin Henin-Hardeene.

Kournikova has not played in a USTA circuit event since 1996. That year, she recorded victories at Midland, Mich., and Rockford, Ill.

Frazier lost in the first round of last week's Bausch & Lomb Championships at Amelia Island, Fla. She reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in 1992 and the U.S. Open quarterfinals in 1995. Frazier made it to the fourth round of the U.S. Open last year.

Cargill, from Atlanta, was the second seed in last year's Cloister Cup singles draw. She lost in the second round. In January, she won her first Grand Slam match, beating Anabel Medina Garriques in the opening round of the Australian Open. She lost in round two to Venus Williams, 6-3, 6-0.

The highest-ranked player in last year's Cloister Cup was Erika DeLone, who was 135th.