Women’s Tennis : Graf Has No Trouble in Final

Steffi Graf did apologize last year after she so quickly devastated Natalia Zvereva in the French Open singles final, but the world’s top-ranked female tennis player hasn’t softened her approach against the Soviet teen-ager.

Graf--who won that French final, 6-0, 6-0--defeated Zvereva, 6-1, 6-1, in the final of the Family Circle Magazine Cup.

The match, which took less than an hour, was played on the clay courts at Sea Pines Racquet Club under overcast conditions after rain threatened to delay the championship.

Graf, 19, said she never felt threatened by Zvereva, who upset second-seeded Martina Navratilova Saturday.

“She can’t really put me under pressure,” Graf said. “She had some tough matches earlier, so maybe she was also tired.

“I was really in control all the time, except for maybe at the beginning of the second set,” said Graf, who won her first professional title at the Family Circle in 1986. She also won the title in 1987.

Graf won the first two games, but Zvereva, seeded fourth in the tournament and ranked ninth in the world, broke back to make it 2-1. But the West German broke Zvereva’s service three times after that and easily held her own to win the set.

Zvereva, who turns 18 next Sunday, won the opening game of the second set and took Graf to three deuce points in the second game before Graf served an ace to even the set.

Zvereva made one last stand in the third game, extending Graf to four decue points.

Graf broke Zvereva twice and held her own serve to close out the match.

Graf’s victory ran her career record against Zvereva to 3-0.

But she said she didn’t take the match with Zvereva lightly.

“You never can compare one match to the other, especially the young ones who are improving all the time.

“You can never say it’s going to be impossible to beat me . . . it’s always possible,” Graf said.

Zvereva had difficulty with her serve, double-faulting four times.

“My serve has been really big trouble through the whole tournament,” Zvereva said. “My toss was not high enough.”