It Takes a While, but Graf Advances : Wimbledon: She has to work to defeat de Swardt in three sets. Fendick will be next after upset over Novotna. Capriati wins.

Steffi Graf’s arrival in the fourth round at Wimbledon took longer than expected--three sets lasting 1 hour 46 minutes--but she still got there.

Second-seeded Graf lost the first set to Mariaan de Swardt of South Africa and struggled in the third before getting away with a 5-7, 6-0, 7-5 victory Saturday.

“She served so well, so amazingly,” said Graf, who had lost only three games in her first two matches. “If you serve like that . . . it was a very difficult match.”

De Swardt had only one ace and eight double faults, but she hit consistently hard serves and scored points directing them to Graf’s backhand.

In the fourth round, Graf plays Patty Fendick of Sacramento, who upset Jana Novotna, 6-3, 6-3. Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere also was upset by Kristin Godridge, who meets Gabriela Sabatini in the fourth round.

Natalia Zvereva, who made the fourth round at Wimbledon when she was 16, is back again at age 21, this time courtesy of a lucky shot that clipped the top of the net and bounced over on match point in a 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 third-round victory over Lori McNeil.

“Was it lucky?” Zvereva said. “Well, it match point up, not match point down.”

Zvereva made a name for herself in the 1987 Wimbledon when she reached the fourth round and lost a three-set duel to Sabatini, then made it to the 1988 French Open final before getting obliterated by Graf, 6-0, 6-0, in 37 minutes.

Zvereva has been trying to rebuild from the crushing defeat ever since. If she gets past Zina Garrison, Zvereva is in line for another shot at Graf in the quarterfinals.

A semifinalist a year ago, Jennifer Capriati beat Patricia Hy, 6-3, 6-1, and moved closer to a possible quarterfinal encounter with Sabatini.

Capriati must first get past 19-year-old Naoko Sawamatsu, who became the first Japanese woman to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Judith Weisner.