San Diego Tennis Tournament : Graf Needs 62 Minutes, but Result Is Same

Steffi Graf’s 6-1, 6-2 victory over West German compatriot Bettina Bunge in the semifinals of the Great American Bank tennis tournament at the San Diego Tennis and Racquet Club Saturday appeared similar to her first three victories this week.

But something was different. Maybe it was because it lasted 62 minutes, or 20 minutes more than Graf’s previous tournament match average. Maybe it was because Bunge was able to extend Graf to a 22-point fifth game in the second set before being broken. Maybe it was because Bunge won one more game than Graf’s first three opponents combined.

Or maybe it was simply because Graf’s dominance has made everyone change the standard for a competitive match.

It is to the point where Bunge merely winning a point against Graf had the sellout crowd of 4,400 cheering, and Bunge celebrating to herself.

“Every point you have to fight so hard, it tires you a little bit,” Bunge said.

“You’re so happy when you win one.”

Graf has lost only five games in four matches in advancing to the final today at 1 p.m. against second-seeded Zina Garrison of Houston, who defeated No. 6 Nathalie Tauziat of France, 6-1, 7-5, in Saturday’s other semifinal.

Even by Graf’s standards, her performance here has been impressive. Never had she lost so few games in playing four matches to reach a tournament final.

The last time they held such a lopsided series of matches in this city, a court declared it illegal and awarded New Zealand the America’s Cup.

Graf closed the match with consecutive aces.

“She was serving like (Ivan) Lendl,” Bunge said. “I am sure a lot of the men couldn’t return them.”

It was not the only time she froze Bunge. At least a half-dozen times, Bunge did not take a step toward a Graf winner. Other times she came in for a volley only to watch Graf’s return fly past her before she got much past the service line.

“(Sometimes) the ball was so fast, you don’t have a chance,” Bunge said. “If you hit the ball a bit too short, a little bit defensive, you get punished right away. You are not going to get away with getting the ball in and hoping she will miss.”

Despite the score, Bunge took some consolation from her performance. The match was only her fourth in singles competition since November of 1987.

Knee and foot operations forced her to take a 20-month layoff. She began her comeback this week with Graf-like victories over No. 5 Lori McNeil (6-2, 6-0) and Jo Durie (6-1, 6-1) before a tough, three-set quarterfinal win Friday over last year’s San Diego runner-up, Ann Grossman (2-6, 7-5, 6-4).

Her comeback will continue this week in the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles tournament at the Manhattan Country Club.

“Before the match, my knee was really sore,” Bunge said. “I was pretty worried about it, but in the match I didn’t really feel it at all.

“Under the circumstances, I was quite pleased. . . . I hadn’t played a (big) match like that in years, even before I stopped in 1987.”

The layoff had Graf wondering how competitive Bunge would be. “I really didn’t know what to expect because I hadn’t seen her play (in so long),” Graf said. “But I know she has the touch, and I know she knows how to do it.”

Bunge, 26, recalls seeing Graf for first time in 1981, when she was ranked in the top 10 and Graf was a junior player.

“I remember a training camp in Germany when Claudia (Kohde-Kilsch) and I were big stars,” Bunge said. “(Steffi) was 12 years old, a skinny girl. She was so good. God, she was already so good.”

Three years later, Bunge lost to her at Wimbledon in their first meeting. “She was 13 or 14 (actually 15),” Bunge said. “I wasn’t upset because I knew she was exceptional.”

Their previous most recent match had been a 6-1, 6-1 Graf victory in Los Angeles in 1987.This was their fifth career meeting; Bunge has yet to win a set.

Graf gave up only two points off her serve in the first set. At one point spanning the first and second sets, Graf scored 16 consecutive points on serve.

But Bunge played Graf 22 points before being broken in fifth game of the second set. Bunge won 10 points in the game, as many as she won in the entire first set.

“In the beginning, I was little too careful, and I got punished with some blistering returns,” Bunge said.

“I was trying to at least prove to her that I could give her a good match, that (every match) is not totally boring for her,” Bunge said.

Graf might expect an even better match from Garrison, who actually owns a three-set victory over her, although it was four years ago in their first meeting. The last time they played, in the final of an indoor tournament in Washington in February, Graf won, 6-1, 7-5. It was her fourth consecutive victory over the world’s sixth-ranked player.

The close second set followed a first set in which Graf won the first 20 points to lead, 5-0.

The final will be Garrison’s fifth in 12 tournaments this year. She is coming off her second title of the year--a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Pam Shriver in Newport, R.I., two weeks ago.

Garrison said her strategy today will be simple, the risks high.

“I have got to get more first serves in, a lot more than I’ve been getting in,” Garrison said. “And on her second serve, I’ll have to attack, no matter what. If I get passed 99 times, I’ve got to let her pass me.

“The thing about Steffi is you have to go out there and say, ‘I’m going to be aggressive.’ You know she is going to be aggressive. You’re not going to be given many opportunities, and when you do you have to take advantage of it.”