Shriver and Kohde-Kilsch Advance to the Final : Two of the Tallest Players in Women’s Tennis Win Matches in Straight Sets

Lanky Pam Shriver, who checks in at 5 feet, 11 inches in her sneaker-less feet, is standing tall again--readying to enter the championship final of the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles tournament at Manhattan Country Club in Manhattan Beach.

“It’s a good place to be,” Shriver says. And, for the 23-year-old serve-and-volleyer from Lutherville, Md., it’s also a familiar place--Shriver’s fifth final in her last six tournaments.

But Shriver still may feel a bit strange, a bit out of normal environs, when she looks across the net and sees West Germany’s Claudia Kohde-Kilsch as her title-match opponent.

For once, Shriver will be the smaller player.

At 6-0 1/2, Kohde-Kilsch has nearly two inches on Shriver. Their pairing in this afternoon’s 2 p.m. final makes it a big match in more ways than one.

In some tournaments, only the strongest survive. This week at Manhattan Beach, it’s been the tallest.

Saturday, a couple of Smurfs--5-4 1/2 Zina Garrison and 5-5 Carling Bassett--made their last stand, watching their lobs get gobbled up, their passing shots get swept aside and their chances of advancement get blotted out in straight sets by Shriver and Kohde-Kilsch.

Garrison, on a different kind of high after reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon last month, was beaten by Shriver in one semifinal match, 7-6, 6-4. In the other, Kohde-Kilsch eliminated Bassett, 6-4, 6-4.

The result is a final that figures to be long on power tennis and short on lob attempts.

Size was very much a factor--and very much on the minds of the losers--during the semifinal round. After being dispatched by Kohde-Kilsch, Bassett had to marvel:

“She moves really well for a big girl.”

As in, surprise, surprise.

Actually, Bassett’s eyes had to light up when she learned Kohde-Kilsch would be her opponent Saturday. Bassett, the baseliner, had the type of weapons--patience and pinpoint ground strokes--necessary for felling a taller, slower rival.

“She’s a good serve-and-volley player,” Bassett said of Kohde-Kilsch, “but when you play a baseline player with good (service) returns, you can’t serve and volley as much. You have to sit it out in the backcourt.”

That’s where Bassett had hoped to get Kohde-Kilsch into trouble, running her from side to side.

But Kohde-Kilsch, who has recently enlisted the help of a running coach to aid her agility, ran down enough shots to eventually run down Bassett.

“She’s improved her speed a lot,” Bassett said. “She has such great range now. It’s hard to pass her, because she can move laterally and up and back.”

After winning the first set, Kohde-Kilsch was on the verge of running away in the second with a 4-1 lead. But then, Bassett rallied, something of a switch for Kohde-Kilsch, who came back from 5-2 and 5-1 deficits to upset top-seeded Hana Mandlikova in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Bassett forced a 4-4 tie before Kohde-Kilsch steadied herself again, breaking Bassett’s serve for a 5-4 edge and then quickly closing out the set, and match.

Somewhat of an expert on comebacks, Kohde-Kilsch said it’s easier to be the trailer than trailee. “If you’re down, 5-2, you have nothing to lose,” she said. “The other one has to win the next game. You can play much looser and maybe get lucky and come back.”

Bassett didn’t get lucky. Neither did Garrison, who lost one set to Shriver in a 7-2 tiebreaker and the other after leading, 3-2.

Garrison did say her concentration had improved after her quarterfinal victory over Bettina Bunge Friday. “That wasn’t a case of not concentrating,” Garrison said. “It was more like being spaced out.”

This time, Garrison sustained her intensity--but couldn’t cope with Shriver’s physical advantages. Shriver ate up Garrison’s puff serves and overpowered her on her service games.

“She played pretty much the way I thought she’d play,” Shriver said. “She doesn’t have that strong a serve, but when I put pressure on her, it’s easy not to serve well.”

As a consequence, Shriver and Kohde-Kilsch set a date on a tennis court for only the third time in their professional careers, Shriver winning the first two.

That, of course, doesn’t include the practice session they held earlier this week.

“We had a practice set. That was before I got my serve straightened out,” Shriver said. “So, she won the set.”

Today, Shriver gets a rematch.