TENNIS / AUSTRALIAN OPEN : Graf Overcomes Fernandez’s Effort to Win

Steffi Graf survived a surprisingly tough match against American teen-ager Mary Joe Fernandez to win the Australian Open women’s singles today (Saturday) for her third consecutive Grand Slam title.

Graf, winning the Australian for the third successive year and gaining her 48th consecutive match victory, came back from a break down, 1-4, in the second set to beat Fernandez, 6-3, 6-4.

“I didn’t play my best, but I won it,” the top-ranked Graf said. “Mary Joe played as I expected her to. When you’re in a Grand Slam final, you tend to play your best.”

Fernandez, ranked 11th, was proud of being able to play a close match against Graf.

“In the second set, it was a point here and a point there. I should have won it,” Fernandez said. “I played pretty much with her during the match.”

Only a few key points made the difference in the well-played, tense duel in which Fernandez, 18, of Miami, displayed poise and savvy in exposing a weakness in the 20-year-old West German’s game.

Fernandez, playing her first Grand Slam final, pounded her two-fisted backhand into Graf’s relatively weak backhand side, then came back with winners down the line to Graf’s forehand.

Graf made 14 of her 27 errors in the second set on her backhand, as Fernandez kept the ball deep and generally prevented Graf from attacking the net, as she likes to do.

Graf, winner of Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last year and nine Grand Slam titles overall, put away only two volleys in the match--both in the second set. But if Fernandez found a chink in Graf’s armor, Graf almost exposed one in Fernandez’s.

Virtually all of Fernandez’s errors came off her forehand--17 of 22 in the first set and 17 of 25 in the second set. The match thus came down to each trying to use her strengths: Graf’s forehand, Fernandez’s backhand; and exploit the other’s weakness: Graf’s backhand, Fernandez’s forehand.

Graf broke Fernandez only once in the first set to go ahead, 4-2, as Fernandez hit a backhand wide and a forehand into the net on the last two points, then went on to take the set in 33 minutes.

Fernandez broke Graf in the second game of the second set when Graf hit a wide backhand on break point. Graf saved two break points after falling behind, 0-40, on Fernandez’s forehand return of service down the line, but couldn’t hold the game.

When Fernandez took a 4-1 lead, Graf was starting to think about a third set.

“Yeah, I thought that was possible,” Graf said. “But I felt she was getting tired. I was prepared to play a third set more than (Fernandez).”

But Graf broke back in the seventh game when Fernandez hit a backhand wide. Graf polished off her own service with an ace, then went ahead, 5-4, with another break. Graf won the last two points of that game on a short, sweet cross-court backhand that flew past Fernandez after she came in on a drop shot, and then a forehand that Fernandez hit into the net.

Graf served out to win the match in 1 hour, 21 minutes and picked up $190,000. Fernandez earned $94,500.

Graf, who won all four Grand Slam events in 1988, has won $5.4 million.