Shriver Makes Just ‘a Little Splash’ : She Defeats Sukova, Then Criticizes the Jammed Schedule

Pam Shriver made what she called a little splash Wednesday, then took a whack at Wimbledon’s tradition of taking a Sunday off.

The fifth-seeded American battled through her second rugged match in as many days, holding off match point in the third set to eliminate fourth-seeded Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia, 4-6, 7-6, 10-8, and advance to the semifinals.

In her second appearance in the final four of the world’s top grass-court championships, Shriver will meet second-seeded Steffi Graf, 18, of West Germany.

Runner-up as a 16-year-old at the U.S. Open in 1978, Shriver has not made the semifinals of a Grand Slam event since 1983, at the U.S. and Australian opens.

She talked earlier this week about wanting to make “a big splash” again but said the victory over Sukova did not accomplish that.

“I don’t think this is big enough,” she said. “It doesn’t matter. This is nice. This is a little splash.”

Tuesday, Shriver had won a fourth-round match over Sylvia Hanika of West Germany, 6-7, 7-5, 10-8, battling off two match points to do so.

Because of the loss of 2 1/2 days to rain last week, the second-week calendar was packed, with winners of all 16 fourth-round matches Tuesday back on court for the quarterfinals Wednesday.

That quick turnaround irritated Shriver, particularly since Wimbledon officials had ruled out playing on the traditionally dark middle Sunday of the tournament. Their argument was that people needed a day’s rest.

“OK, they take the middle Sunday off, which is nice for the railway and ticket people, and I read about how nice it is for the garbage collectors and the drivers, that they have the day off,” she said. “In the meantime, let’s just stick it to the players in the second week. It’s tough.”

Shriver took a 3-2 lead in the first set before Sukova won four games in a row and held serve for the set. The second set went with serve, but Shriver streaked to a 6-0 lead in the tiebreaker and won it, 7-1.

In the third set, the two 6-footers exchanged breaks in the 9th and 11th games before Shriver held off match point on her serve in the 14th game. She broke the Czech for a 9-8 lead and served out the match at love.

Against Graf, Shriver said, she will rely on experience for help. Some of the memories are not pleasant, she added.

“My last semifinal appearance was very quick. I played Chris (Evert) and got killed,” she said of her 6-3, 6-1 elimination in 1981 at Wimbledon. “So I’ll take a look at that Centre Court tomorrow and probably give it a couple of kicks.”

Graf had to leave a practice court Wednesday for breaking one of the strictest rules of the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

She wore blue shorts.

Graf was told by club officials that she would have to change into an outfit in keeping with the regulation that tennis outfits be predominantly white.

Officials said Graf apologized, left the court and returned in white warmup-suit pants. She was allowed to resume working out, they said.

Graf later won her 44th consecutive match, beating Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, to reach the women’s semifinals.