WOMEN’S ALL-AMERICAN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS : Graham Not Too Tired to Win Two Semifinal Matches

So much for the virtue of being well-rested.

After playing three matches totaling 6 1/2 hours Friday, a tired and sore Debbie Graham of Stanford came up with her most dominant performance of the Riviera Women’s All-American Tennis Championships, a 6-0, 6-0, semifinal victory over California’s Emilie Viqueira Saturday at the Riviera Country Club.

Graham, a graduate of Los Amigos High School in Fountain Valley, is the nation’s top-ranked college player and top seeded for this tournament, one of four comprising the collegiate grand slam.

“It always ends up the more tired I am, the better I play,” Graham said. “When I’m really tired, I tend to concentrate more. I definitely wasn’t as nervous or tight as I was in my last two matches.”

It took Graham, a junior, 25 minutes to win the first set. She won all but three points in the first five games. She was extended to deuce in the sixth game, but closed out the set when Viqueira double faulted and then hit a forehand into the net.

The second set was virtually a replay of the first. Only in the second game, which twice went to deuce, did Viqueira mount a challenge.

Graham will face Sandra Birch, her doubles partner, in today’s final. Birch defeated Stanford teammate Heather Willens, 6-2, 6-4, in the other semifinal.