LITTLE WONDER ON THE COURT

This is a good year for Japanese women tennis players--and a great one for KIMIKO DATE, 25. The nation's top female player and seeded seventh at the U.S. Open, the small (162.5 cm tall), intense Date gets no easy matches. "That's the big difference between me and Seles and Graf,'' she points out. Her country is an emerging powerhouse, with a record eight wom en making the draw for the big American tournament. Ad vantage, Japan.

SEEN & HEARD

When Gloria Estefan sang Mi Tierra (My Land) at Guant namo Bay in Cuba, she could barely get through it. She and husband Emilio had long dreamed of returning to their birthplace, she said, and their two-hour outdoor concert last week for 10,000 Cuban raft refugees at the U.S. naval base was emotionally overwhelming. Said Emilio: "They were us, 30 years ago.''

FROM FARM TO WHITE HOUSE

Sure now, but there's something familiar about the sky-blue eyes. MICK CASSIDY, 66, of Roslea in County Fermanagh learned that he's Bill Clinton's closest known Irish relative. On their family tree is one Lucas Cassidy, who in 1750 left the ancestral home, in the background, for America. Clinton will visit Ireland in December, and farmer Cassidy says he'll be glad to lift a pint with his cousin from across the sea.

BUT WHO'S COUNTING?

ELIZABETH TAYLOR, 63, said "I do'' eight times; once again she's making it "I don't." The most conspicuous believer in serial monogamy and her construction-worker husband of less than four years, LARRY FORTENSKY, 43, have decided on a trial separation because, she says, we "need our own space right now." They say they hope it's temporary. But for now, to the list of Nicky, Michael, Mike, Eddie, Richard, Richard again and John, add Larry.

BISHOP AND A FATHER TOO

HANSJOERG VOGEL was studying for the priesthood at Lucerne's Roman Catholic seminary; Agnes Lussi was a sec retary there. They met and, friends speculate, fell in love and wanted to marry. But Vogel, now 44, joined the clergy, and some 20 years later is Switzerland's most popular bishop, heading the Basel diocese. But he has asked the Pope "to be relieved of my functions. I have sought refuge and strength several times in my relationship to a woman. This relationship led to a pregnancy.'' Lussi, 42, who lives in Lucerne and until June worked for the Catholic relief group Caritas, is to give birth this month. Must Vogel quit? Notes the Vatican ambassador to Berne: "In matters concerning celibacy, I can conceive that the Holy Spirit may show us new ways.''