French Open Tennis Championships : Evert, 7-Time Winner, Goes Quietly

For Gabriela Sabatini, there was much to take solace in Thursday. She had played superb tennis and frightened her opponent. She had won the crowd if not the match. And there is always next year.

For Chris Evert, there was no such consolation. Her tennis was not very good. Her opponent felt more sorry for her than anything else. And, for her, there may not be a next year.

Evert’s departure from the French Open Thursday evening was as stunning as Sabatini’s was dramatic. The seven-time champion was destroyed by Martina Navratilova, 6-2, 6-2, in a semifinal match that lasted only 73 minutes. That was exactly half as long as it took Steffi Graf to beat Sabatini, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.

Graf, 11 months older than Sabatini, is the youngest woman to reach a French final. She has now won 38 straight matches since losing the Virginia Slims championships final to Navratilova last November.

Both matches were delayed by rain. But while the 80-minute delay in Graf-Sabatini gave the two 17 year olds a chance to catch their breath in the tense third set, the 40-minute stoppage during Evert-Navratliova merely forestalled the inevitable.

Navratilova actually led, 6-2, 5-0, and had two match points before Evert salvaged a tiny piece of pride by saving those points and getting to 5-2. It was so bad that in this, their 72nd meeting (Navratilova now leads 38-34), Navratilova found her mind wandering, her thoughts turning to Evert near the end of the match.

“I couldn’t help myself there near the end,” she said. “I was trying to end the match and I caught myself thinking, ‘My God, I’m glad it’s not me losing like this but I know how bad she’s going to feel.’ And then I began to think that I know I’ll be here next year but Chris might not be. So, I started thinking, ‘Is this the end for Chris at the French?’ ”

Said Evert: “All I know is she was the better player today. I got beat fair and square.”

Sabatini may have lost fair and square, but she must have gone home wondering who the better player was.

She came out winning the first eight points before Graf had a chance to blink. But Graf broke back to get even at 3-all, then broke again on her fifth set point to take the set, 6-4.

“I was just having trouble playing my shots,” Graf said. “Part of it was her, but part of it was me. I guess I was a little nervous.”

She had to deal at length with her nerves in the third set because, after Sabatini held for 1-all and after the next game had reached deuce, the rain came and everyone headed for cover. For Sabatini, the break was a break. Her conditioning has been a problem ever since she first came on the scene four years ago.

Thursday, though, she came out after the delay and quickly broke for a 2-1 lead. At 3-all, Sabatini won what should have been the key game of the match. A moment later, she held service and stood one game from the final at 5-3.

But Graf wasn’t through. “I just had to go for more things, take some chances,” she said. “There was nothing to lose then. I couldn’t let her control things anymore.”

She didn’t. Sabatini led 0-15 in the next game, but Graf ripped off the next four points to get to 4-5. Sabatini, serving for the match, led 15-0 in the next game and again didn’t win another point, allowing Graf to get to 5-5. Sabatini reached deuce in the next game, but made two errors to go down 6-5.

The end came quickly. Up 15-0 again, Sabatini made four straight errors.

“I got a little nervous and a little tired at the end,” Sabatini said. “I thought for one moment, when I was up 5-3, that I would win, but I knew with Steffi it was still a long way off.”