In her profession, Petra Rampre needs a racket to guide the little yellow tennis ball wherever she wants it to go within the white lines.

But Rampre, the No. 1 seed in the women's singles draw of the McDonald's Mid-Atlantic Clay Court Tennis Championships, relies heavily on her feet to carry her around the court.

So maybe it wasn't so surprising to hear the native of Slovenia talk about being a track star rather than a shot-maker.

For the second year in a row, the 28-year-old proved that she can keep the ball in play better than the opposition by posting a 6-3, 6-1 victory over fourth-seeded Shadisha Robinson of Hilton Head, S.C., in a 68-minute final yesterday at Salisbury Country Club.

"The thing is, Lindsay Davenport, for example, she is not the quickest with her feet," Rampre said, after accepting a check for $3,000. "She's a shot-maker. She's very good at technical. She's good with racket speed and can hit winners from everywhere.

"With me, I cannot rely on hitting winners from everywhere. I rely on my feet. I would never say that myself, but one of my coaches told me when I was working with him in Atlanta, 'You are not a shot-making star. You are more like a track star.'"

Rampre, who is ranked 390th by the computer on the women's pro tour, certainly showed the rest of the field her heels, losing only 11 games in four matches during the week.

"I like it because it's almost like a grinder," she said. "That's probably going to be one of my advantages is my fitness."

Her opponent can't say the same. Robinson, who got a walkover into the final when second-seeded Tatsiana Uvarova failed to arrive in time for their semifinal, appeared to hit a wall midway through the opening set.

After breaking Rampre's serve on a blistering forehand into the corner to assume a 3-2 lead, Robinson dropped 10 of the final 11 games. The recent graduate of the University of South Florida, where she played No. 1 singles, still made Rampre work hard for the second set but couldn't hold her own serve to get back in contention.

"I wasn't expecting to do this well, coming into the tournament," said Robinson, 23, who also played No. 1 at Georgia before transferring to USF. "I haven't been playing, and I haven't been training. I'm tired. Mentally, I got a little nervous. Especially on the big points.

"She was able to capitalize on those points. That's what makes her a great player. I wasn't completely there because my body is not how I would like it to be. But I walked away with $2,500 [counting doubles] more than I had, so I'm excited."

After winning the last four games of the opening set and the first one of the second, Rampre lost her serve again for 1-1. But her baseline game soon began to click again, and she reeled off the final five games.

"I knew going into the match that she was very talented and could hit winners like out of every shot," Rampre said. "She did that for the first five games and was up 3-2 and 30-love on her serve and was doing everything right.

"I thought, if she's going to win this way, it's OK. I was just trying to get as many balls over as I could. Give her different looks, spins and slices, just to throw her off rhythm, and it worked for a while. Then she got a little tired and it just went my way."

Robinson's fifth and sixth double faults got her in trouble to open the final game, and Rampre ended the match with a lunging forehand winner into an open court.

Rampre, who will be in Kentucky next week for a $50,000 tournament, could have played in Allentown, Pa.., last week but opted for this event.

"This tournament has saved me," she said. "I have very little money in my bank account when I come here because I have no sponsors. It's an awesome tournament and I have a better chance to win here than if I play in the challenger tournaments. I have to drive everywhere I go. It's not easy, but it's the life I choose."

Rampre added $1,200 more to her account when she teamed with Salifu Mohammed to win the mixed-doubles title over Olga Borisova and Romain Ambert 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.