Introduction to Graf Is Chilly for Capriati : Wimbledon women: American, 14, launches a fast-paced attack, but can’t overcome experience of top-seeded West German.

They were making history in a hurry Monday on Wimbledon’s Centre Court, where 14-year-old Jennifer Capriati played 21-year-old Steffi Graf for the first time.

Graf, playing the part of the veteran to perfection, won a 59-minute battle of guile and speed, 6-2, 6-4, in what might have been the first fourth-round Wimbledon match played on the run.

So little time was wasted between points that Capriati almost served once when Graf was standing by her chair wiping her face with a towel.

“She is rushing . . . she plays even faster than I,” Graf said.

But Capriati does not yet play as well. Graf broke Capriati’s serve twice in each set and closed out the match with the last in a series of sizzling forehand winners that made a distinct impression on their recipient.

“I mean, she was just great,” Capriati said. “Now I know why they call it the forehand. It’s just a bullet.”

If this was a preview of the rivalry of the future, then Graf took an early lead based on experience. She played her first Wimbledon in 1984, when Capriati was 8.

“She is much more advanced than I was physically (at 14),” Graf said. “I was not as strong as she is at that age. I saw a tape of my first match against Jo Durie and I had legs like this.”

Graf made a circle with her fingers about the size of a grapefruit. Now, of course, it is Graf who is the veteran against whom all younger players are measured.

“I don’t feel old or anything,” Graf said.

But she did feel ill. Graf, who flew to Hamburg after her third-round match Friday night to see a specialist for sinusitis, said she had trouble breathing during the match.

The Associated Press reported that Graf will need an operation, probably before the year is out, to correct the problem.

“Not (enough) air is getting through there,” Graf said.

Her play said much the same thing to Capriati’s chances at Wimbledon. The green turf of the All England Club has been Graf’s private domain since she won consecutive titles in 1988 and 1989. Capriati never held a break point and Graf never really let her get close.

The gap may narrow in future meetings. Graf did not hesitate when asked if Capriati might become her biggest rival.

“Good question,” Graf said. “At the moment, it looks like it.”

Third-seeded Monica Seles and second-seeded Martina Navratilova, two of Graf’s current antagonists, are still in the tournament. Seles, who could play Graf in the semifinals, spent only 39 minutes in beating Ann Henricksson, 6-1, 6-0, and scheduled a practice for the afternoon.

“I think I can play a lot better,” Seles said. “What I would like to do is beat everybody in 30 minutes. Then I would be satisfied, I think.”

Seles will play fifth-seeded Zina Garrison in the quarterfinals. Garrison defeated Helena Sukova, 6-3, 6-3.

Navratilova, who will play Katarina Maleeva in the quarterfinals, beat Judith Wiesner, 6-3, 6-3. Afterward, Navratilova conducted a lively discussion about skiing, her second-favorite sport.

“I think I like it because there are no boundaries,” Navratilova said. “You can go anywhere on the mountain and there are no lines there--just try to avoid the trees.

“I like the absence of noise pollution also. There is no noise but the wind or the snow falling.”

The noise during Gabriela Sabatini’s matches is largely limited to the sound of her grunts. Not as loud as those from Seles, the acknowledged grunting champ, but Sabatini’s grunts have accompanied her into a quarterfinal with Natalia Zvereva.

Sabatini, who is playing her first tournament with Carlos Kirmayr as her coach, defeated Nathalie Tauziat, 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) in a fourth-round match.

Capriati did not seem too unhappy that her first Wimbledon had ended. She smiled broadly when she shook Graf’s hand at the net after the match and was still grinning when she curtsied before the royal box in which the Duchess of York was applauding.

“I thought it was great, a great experience,” Capriati said. “I mean, just to be able to play on Centre Court. Even Princess Fergie came.”

Capriati was equally enthusiastic in her assessment of Graf: “She’s nice.”

Graf, so businesslike in her job of playing tennis, allowed herself to put her first meeting with Capriati in perspective.

“She’s such a favorite because she’s so young and she is so natural in the way she is and people like her,” Graf said. “She always wanted to play against me and I was kind of looking forward to playing her, too. And then it was here on Centre Court in Wimbledon. I think that was a great way to start.”