San Diego Tennis Tournament : Even Graf Is Surprised by Ease of 6-0, 6-0 Win

The shock was not that top-ranked Steffi Graf won another match, 6-0, 6-0. The shock was whom she did it against.

This was not a first-round opponent. This was Claudia Kohde-Kilsch, once ranked as high as fourth in the world and, until Graf came along, the leading woman tennis player in West Germany.

The victory, in the quarterfinals Thursday of the Great American Bank tournament at the San Diego Tennis and Racquet Club, was quick and overwhelming.

Kohde-Kilsch could not hide her disbelief. Never in her 10-year career, she said, had she been shut out.

“It’s not embarrassing,” she said. “People who saw the match know how unbelievably she played. It’s just hard for myself. It is not possible.

“I had a good feeling about the match. I had two good matches (in the tournament). I had practiced very well. It’s not that I am off or something. I tried until the last ball. I really never thought I would lose 6-love, 6-love. But she played without any mistakes and so powerful.”

Even Graf was surprised by the ease with which she eliminated seventh-seeded Kohde-Kilsch, whose ranking has dropped to 30th after she took 2 1/2 months off for a rest earlier this spring. “She is a very good serve-and-volley player and also is someone who can play from the back,” Graf said. “She has been in the top 10 for a long time. She always has had a very good ranking. I expected a much more difficult match.”

The match lasted 42 minutes. Graf allowed Kohde-Kilsch only 22 points in the match, eight in a first set that took 17 minutes.

In winning three matches to advance to the semifinals Saturday against the winner of today’s Ann Grossman-Bettina Bunge match, Graf has lost two games (to Betsy Nagelsen in the second round) and her matches have averaged 42 minutes.

“Was it fast again?” Graf said after being told of the match time. “Oh, no. . . . “

The victory was Graf’s 10th in a row over Kohde-Kilsch since she dropped their first two matches in 1984. At the time, Graf was a 14-year-old, second-year professional, and Kohde-Kilsch, then 20, was ranked in the top 10.

The last time they played, in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in January, Graf at least surrendered five games in a 6-2, 6-3 victory.

“I had more chances to come in and do something that time,” Kohde-Kilsch said. “I got her to miss a few forehands. (This time) she was just so confident. She didn’t miss anything.

“I don’t know what else I could have done. Maybe hit two or three more volleys, but she is so quick. . . . There was nothing much else I could do.”

The feeling of helplessness is something many sense against Graf. Her first-round opponent, Rene Simpson of Toronto, said after her 6-0, 6-0 loss Monday that she entered the match without hope of winning. But Simpson is ranked 80th in the world; Kohde-Kilsch has won $1.9 million as a pro.

“You can see she was nervous,” Graf said. “I know she can play much better. She is making double faults, sometimes at inappropriate points. You don’t want to win 6-0, 6-0 against someone you know so well. It is difficult to know how to react afterward.”

Said Kohde-Kilsch: “If you think about it yourself, you don’t know what you did wrong and what you did right. But my family is here, and they told me, ‘You couldn’t do more. She played unbelievable. You are still a good player. If she plays this great, just forget about it. Think of the next match.’ ”

The tournament is Graf’s first since her Wimbledon victory July 9. It is part of her hardcourt warmup for the U.S. Open at the end of the month. She is skipping the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles next week and will play in Mahwah, N.J., after that. But her first three matches in San Diego have given her little chance to test her skills.