Argen-Teen Sensation Advances : Sabatini, 16, Becomes Century’s Youngest Semifinalist

Moving to the Wimbledon women’s semifinals Tuesday were Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert Lloyd and Hana Mandlikova. In other world news, the Pope continued to espouse Catholicism, the sun continued to ascend in the East and bears continued to enjoy the creature comforts of the woods.

The only novelty of the Final Four has turned out to be 16-year-old cover girl Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina, the youngest female player of the 20th Century to get so far. Sabatini defeated Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden, 6-2, 6-3, to set the stage for her country’s second biggest sporting event of the week, Argentina vs. Martina.

Asked if friends have been encouraging her about this being Argentina’s year, Sabatini said: “Yes, they have been joking that first Argentina won the World Cup, and now it will be the tennis. I hope their jokes are right.”

Gaby is the girl who drives the photographers ga-ga. Just the sight of her has made grown shutterbugs shudder. In interview sessions, though, Sabatini has been pretty and pretty blase. Upon been informed that she, having turned 16 in May, is now the youngest Wimbledon semifinalist since an Englishwoman of 99 years ago named Charlotte (Lottie) Dod, Sabatini’s bubbly reaction was: “Thank you for telling me.”

Tracy Austin was 16 years 7 months when she made the semifinals in 1979. Christine Truman was a few weeks younger when she got there two decades sooner. Andrea Jaeger reached the quarterfinals, but not the semifinals, at 15. But in 1887, at the age of 15 years 10 months, the women’s championship went to Lottie Dod, whose name was later spoken with reverence by actress Diane Keaton in the movie “Annie Hall.”

And folks thought Boris Becker was young.

Austin, now on extended sick leave from tennis at 23, was in attendance here Tuesday, working for TV’s “Good Morning America,” when her friend and former boyfriend, Matt Anger from USC, threw a scare into men’s favorite Ivan Lendl before losing, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 7-6. Lendl advanced to a quarterfinal match today against the last remaining American, Tim Mayotte.

Anger had Lendl right where he wanted him. Three of the four sets were settled by tiebreakers, either of which could have gone the way of the Pleasanton, Calif., resident. Anger let four set points get away in the final tiebreaker before Lendl escaped, 12-10.

“It was there for the taking,” Anger said.

Theirs was the only men’s singles match of the day, played because it had been interrupted the previous night by darkness. The women held court Tuesday, and the 1-2-3 punch of the seedings managed to avoid upsets, although Lloyd and Mandlikova both had to work three sets.

Lloyd outlasted No. 7 seed Helena Sukova, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4, fighting off two Sukova set points in the opening set, while Mandlikova ended the surprising good fortune of unseeded Lori McNeil of Houston, though not before dropping the first set, 6-7, 6-0, 6-2.

The winners will play Thursday, which could determine whether Lloyd and Navratilova will meet in the final for the third straight Wimbledon and for the sixth time in the last nine. And since it was Mandlikova whom Lloyd met for the title in 1981, yes, ladies and gentlemen, women’s tennis could use some fresh blood.

It did not help to have Steffi Graf contract a terrible virus during the French Open, for Graf might have challenged the powers-that-be in this tournament. But instead of the 17-year-old West German girl, Wimbledon is left with an even younger kid whose only professional singles title came in the 1985 Japan Open.

Sabatini’s father works for General Motors in South America, while his daughter is barely old enough to jockey her favorite motor scooter around Buenos Aires. But she has been playing tennis she was 7, left home at 13, left school at 14 and moved in with her coach, Patricio Apey, in Key Biscayne, Fla.

Players with backgrounds such as hers were the ones who persuaded the International Tennis Federation to ban female players below the age of 14 from the pro tour and to limit the number of tournaments for those under 16.

Although the next colorful comment that Sabatini makes here will be her first, she did attempt a mild joke at the ITF’s expense Tuesday. With regard to her being the youngest Wimbledon semifinalist of the century, she said: “I hope now there will be a rule that no one under 17 can play, so I can keep the record.”

Sabatini believes that if she has a chance against Navratilova, it is because “I have nothing to lose. All the pressure will be on her. I am going to play hard, try as hard as I can, and try to enjoy myself.”

Navratilova, a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Bettina Bunge, is in top form and totally relaxed. She even improved her game overnight after watching Pat Cash play Mats Wilander in the men’s division Monday and noticing that Cash stayed extremely low on his volleys, then copying his style. “I should send him a thank-you note,” Martina said.

She did need something to get her attention here. Navratilova’s match with Bunge was her first since the tournament began against somebody ranked in the top 100.

Lori McNeil, meanwhile, just barely in the top 100, was not about to bow out of this tournament routinely. After her first quarterfinal set against Mandlikova, she still had not lost a set in the tournament. McNeil roared back from a 5-2 deficit to take the set in a tiebreaker.

“She can play unbelievable shots,” Mandlikova said. “And it’s difficult to play against a player like that who has nothing to lose.”

Words for Gaby Sabatini to live by.

If McNeil had not had trouble picking up Mandlikova’s serve off the grass, she might have given her an even tougher time.

“I knew I needed to get even tougher after winning the first set, but she started serving really well and I had a little trouble picking it up,” McNeil said. “Beating her isn’t easy. She’s not ranked up there for nothing.”

Nor is Chris Evert Lloyd. Even after double-faulting to fall behind in the first-set tiebreaker, 8-7, Lloyd kept battling, took the set, took the match, and even though she is twice as old as was Lottie Dod, still had the look of a champion.

Wimbledon Notes

Boris Becker’s chances of repeating in the men’s division look good to Martina Navratilova. “I thought (Ivan) Lendl was going to win at the beginning of the tournament, but Becker’s serving so well,” Navratilova said. “I mean, his second serve is better than some guys’ first serve. It’s unbelievable. And his forehand is like swatting flies.” . . . Navratilova is still alive in women’s doubles, with Pam Shriver, and mixed doubles, with Heinz Guenthardt. She already owns 38 Grand Slam titles. . . . There has been a hay-fever problem among the players, due to an extremely high pollen count, Wimbledon officials say. But no remaining singles entries are affected. . . . Gabriela Sabatini was asked how she felt about being described as Argentina’s female answer to soccer star Diego Maradona. Before she could answer, a Swedish journalist interjected: “She’s taller.”