Evert Falls to Flu; Steffi Faces Sabatini in Finals

Felled by a stomach virus, Chris Evert withdrew today from the women’s semifinals at the U.S. Open, giving top-seeded Steffi Graf a berth in the final.

The third-seeded Evert, who had reached the semifinals in America’s premier tennis event for the 17th time in 18 years, was to have played the top-seeded Graf.

Graf, who is going for the first tennis Grand Slam in 18 years, will meet Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina. The fifth seed, who also is Graf’s doubles partner, beat No. 11 Zina Garrison 6-4, 7-5.

The men’s doubles championship was won by Spain’s Emilio Sanchez and Sergio Casal by default. The American team of Rick Leach and Jim Pugh withdrew because Leach also had a stomach virus.

Sabatini’s victory came in an unusual style for the 18-year-old base-liner. She outplayed Garrison at the net and also out-served the American.

Sabatini won nearly three-quarters of her points with her first serve, while Garrison won just over half of hers.

“I’m very happy. I’ve never made a Grand Slam final before,” Sabatini said. “I wanted to win very much. Today I served very well on important points. I was down 0-40 a couple of times and I really had to concentrate.”