Croft Beats Gurney in Semifinals

Ah, the difference between being a 15-year-old and 18-year-old tennis player.

On Saturday night, in the semifinals of Virginia Slims of San Diego at the San Diego Hilton Beach and Tennis Resort, those three years of experience proved to be pivotal in Annabel Croft’s exciting 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 win over fellow teen-ager and upset queen Melissa Gurney of Palos Verdes.

Croft, ranked third in Great Britain and the champion of the Wimbledon Juniors last year, will face top-seeded Wendy Turnbull in today’s final at approximately 2 p.m.

Turnbull easily defeated Mary Lou Piatek, 6-2, 6-1 in the afternoon semifinal match.

The matches were truly like day and night. Turnbull dominated her 55-minute match from the start. Croft and Gurney battled for almost two hours.

Gurney, using the two-handed backhand that has become the trademark of teen-age baseline players, scrambled and groaned on almost every shot.

She won the first set, 7-5 by saving four set points in the 10th game, and winning the last four games.

After that, she said she was actually a little overconfident.

Overconfident? That’s almost hard to believe for a 15-year-old amateur playing in a tournament dominated by professionals.

Holding back tears at an emotional press conference after Saturday night’s match, Gurney said she probably didn’t stay “up” enough after winning the first set.

“I was probably thinking I had it,” Gurney said. “I was ahead now, and a little too confident. I don’t think I got up for it enough when I had to.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the net, Croft admitted that she felt Gurney would start missing some of her incredible backhand passing shots if she could just hang in there.

“In that first set she hit some good shots that were better than normal,” Croft said. “She got a lot of balls back.”

That’s an understatement. Gurney was a human backboard, racing from side to side and from net to baseline.

“I just had to keep on hitting the ball well,” Croft said, “and make sure I didn’t lose confidence.”

Croft said she spoke with Billie Jean King on the telephone on Saturday afternoon, and King told her to not be negative even when things weren’t going her way.

She had the experience and poise to put that advice to good use on Saturday night.

“I knew she couldn’t keep it (her incredible shots) up,” Croft said.

Croft was once 15 too.

“She sure played a lot better than I did when I was 15,” Croft said. “I remember when I was 15, I won the first set of a match at Wimbledon, and then flunked.”

That’s the way a woman from London says she quickly lost the next two sets.

On Saturday night, Croft raced out to a 4-1 lead in the second set and won 6-2. In the third and deciding set, the 5-7 right-hander, with more power than her counterpart, broke Gurney to take a 3-2 lead, and then held service until the final game when she broke Gurney again to win, 6-3.

“She hung in there and never gave up,” Gurney said. “I have to play every point really intense, and I didn’t do that today.”

It was a long and exciting week for Gurney, and it all might have caught up with her in the final set.

“I think she got quite tired at the end,” Croft said.

That’s one of the main reasons Croft used a lot of drop shots against a quick opponent who certainly could cover the court.

“I think they paid off in the end,” Croft said. “I also feel that I was right to keep plugging away at her forehand.”

In the afternoon semifinal, Turnbull plugged away at all facets of Piatek’s game, and the result was a very convincing win.

“I was surprised at the scores,” Turnbull said. “You don’t expect scores like that in a semifinal match . . . And she has such good groundies.”

That’s a nice Australian way of saying ground strokes.