Graf Survives in 3 Sets, but Seles Is One Who Looks Like a Winner

The new wave of women’s tennis arrived wearing teal. Her hair in a braid bound tightly by a pink tie, 15-year-old Monica Seles wrapped fingers with nails painted bright red around her racket and began a colorful assault on the Establishment.

With grunts and giggles and youthful enthusiasm, Seles did not quite beat 19-year-old Steffi Graf in their French Open semifinal, but she certainly had the No. 1 player in the world a shade worried.

Scared, too?

“I don’t know if I scared her. . . . Maybe a little,” Seles said.

What happened here Thursday on center court at Stade Roland Garros wasn’t child’s play, it was the future of women’s tennis, which got a little younger and a little brighter at the same time, all because of a player not much older than the ball girls.

Graf prevailed, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, and advanced to the final, where she will play 17-year-old Arantxa Sanchez of Spain, who defeated 17-year-old Mary Joe Fernandez of Miami, 6-2, 6-2, in the other semifinal.

Seles, the teen scream, did not go quietly, of course. The Florida-based Yugoslav became only the third player to take at least one set from Graf this year and she did it in her normal, noisy, grunt-and-grind shot-making manner.

And afterward, she gave her usual Woody Woodpecker giggle and laughed, which was more than Graf felt like doing.

For a while, with 16,000 fans roaring their approval, it even looked as if Seles might be able to pull off an upset, as she did when she beat Chris Evert earlier this year.

Seles, ranked No. 22 and playing in only her sixth professional tournament, was actually up a break, 2-1, in the third set, and beating the best player in the world, who was acutely aware of it.

“There was a chance of losing the match, yes,” said a subdued Graf, who conceded that no one has ever hit the ball as hard against her as had Seles.

But Graf broke Seles back, fought off a break point on her own service game and held to 3-2 with a service winner on game point, after which she slammed the ball with her racket for emphasis.

The key point came at deuce with Seles serving at 3-4. Graf engaged Seles in a long baseline rally that ended when Graf sent a forehand winner down the line.

Seles did not win another point. She sent a backhand into the net on break point, and Graf served out the match at love.

“After that long point, I was exhausted,” Seles said.

Graf seemed mentally exhausted. It was clearly a victory in which she took no pleasure.

“I wasn’t scared, I was just playing badly,” she said. “It was just not my day today at all.

“She didn’t have anything to lose. There was no pressure on her. You can just go for winners, take risks. You are not the one who is expected to win. Then the crowd gets behind you a little bit. It’s easy to play at that point, for sure.”

There were times when it seemed that Graf’s racket had sprung a leak. She favored her forehand, as usual, but it was not a totally reliable weapon. The second set turned to Seles when she broke Graf in the fifth game at 15.

Seles played aggressively, attacking Graf’s backhand at every opportunity. She sent three winners, one down the line and two cross-court, to give her three set points at 5-3, 40-0 in the second set.

When Graf’s forehand return of serve hit the net, she was heading to a third set for only the third time this year.

Against Evert in the Virginia Slims of Florida, Graf had dropped the first set but came back to win. The other time Graf lost a set was in April at Amelia Island, Fla., when she was beaten for the only time this year, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, by Gabriela Sabatini.

Graf said she had felt weak but added she was not sick. The only problem she had was not playing very well, she said.

“It’s always very hard if you don’t play well to feel good, even if you won,” she said. “And I’m not very happy even though I won.”

Seles, though, was ecstatic, even though she lost.

“I had nothing to lose,” she said. “She’s been beating everyone, 6-0, 6-1, so I am hoping just to get one game off her. I didn’t expect anything here. Grand Slam. Two weeks. On clay. I’m happy. It doesn’t matter I lost. I’m going to lose to worse players than her.”

Sanchez became the first Spaniard to reach the French Open women’s final and she did it in a breeze.

Sanchez, who is 0-2 and has never won a set against Graf, had more success against Fernandez.

“I know she beat Sabatini and she’s a very good player, but I pressure her a lot and this is a very good tactic against Mary Joe Fernandez. I did it today and it turned out real good.”

Fernandez fought off two match points before succumbing to a forehand approach shot that drifted wide. “I didn’t play my best and she played very well,” Fernandez said. “That’s the way it goes.”

And so it goes for Graf, too, who may be the unhappiest player with a 45-1 record on earth. Even so, here she is in the final, looking for her sixth consecutive Grand Slam triumph. “It won’t be a problem getting up,” Graf said. “It’s the final coming up.”

Graf has won seven of the last nine Grand Slams. Her last loss in a major was to Martina Navratilova in the final of the 1987 U.S. Open. But with Navratilova 32 years old and Evert 34, the need for new, young stars in the women’s game has never been greater.

Is Seles already there?

“She is already strong, can give you very good competition and win every once in a while,” Graf said. “But she is only 15 and needs more time.”

Seles, playing in her first Grand Slam tournament, always has next year. And what will happen then?

“Next year, maybe I win,” she said.

Tennis Notes

The men will replace the women today on center court. Tournament sensation Michael Chang, 17, plays Andrei Chesnokov of the Soviet Union in the first semifinal. Boris Becker of West Germany and Stefan Edberg of Sweden meet in the second semifinal, which looks as much like a final as did the Steffi Graf-Monica Seles match. “Yes, that very well could be true,” said tennis historian Ted Tinling. “But when you can beat Lendl . . . anything can happen.”

Seles was asked at what point she thought she might beat Graf. “To tell you the truth, the whole match I didn’t think I could win,” she said. “But at 2-1 in the third, I had maybe a little feeling, maybe a little chance. But my hands were shaking.” Seles and Mary Joe Fernandez each earned $64,345.

The pursuit of Seles by management firms is sure to intensify. The teen, who lives with her parents in Brandenton, Fla., where she attends the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, has no clothing deals, racket endorsement or management representation. One potential suitor is Ion Tiriac, Becker’s manager, who watched her match intently Thursday. Another possibility is Bill Shelton of IMG, who represents Andre Agassi, another Bollettieri product.