Some Grunt Work Left for Seles, Graf : Women: Top-ranked players hope to finish task at hand if weather permits today’s final.

Weather permitting, Monica Seles plays Steffi Graf in the women’s Wimbledon final today, which means the end is in sight even if the sun isn’t.

Day-long rain washed out the two men’s semifinal matches Friday and threatens the Seles-Graf confrontation. Wimbledon officials waited until 5:30 p.m. to call off Friday’s matches.

It remains to be seen if the only two players left in the women’s singles field can answer the only two questions left in what is becoming an increasingly wet tournament:

--Will it stop raining long enough to play the match?

--Will Graf’s eardrums quiver like a tuning fork, or will she be fitted with ear plugs because of Seles’ grunting?

Perhaps because there have not been very many interesting matches, the women’s competition seems to have degenerated into a preoccupation with the noise Seles makes when she plays.

First, Nathalie Tauziat of France complained to the chair umpire about Seles’ grunts in their quarterfinal match. Then, when Martina Navratilova also complained on two occasions in her semifinal loss to Seles Thursday, the noise issue took on a life of its own.

Even Graf hinted that she might ask the chair umpire to silence Seles.

“We’ll see,” Graf said.

“You know, there are times when it gets close, she really gets loud, and if somebody gets disturbed by it, it’s fine (to complain).”

The morning after she had beaten Navratilova, 6-2, 6-7 (7-3), 6-4, for her first Wimbledon final berth, Seles awoke Friday to unkind press reviews.

Said the Daily Mail: “Call it what you like--the day the Grunter beat the Grannie, Age After Beastly or Miss Piggy Goes To Her First Wimbledon Final . . . .”

In any event, only Graf can prevent Seles from winning the only major title still missing from her collection, and her sixth consecutive Grand Slam tournament crown.

Seles, an 18-year-old Yugoslav living in Florida, might already have bagged a Wimbledon title if only she had played last year, instead of hiding out in Florida. Graf won the championship.

In her two other Wimbledon appearances, Seles reached the fourth round in 1989 and the quarterfinals in 1990, so she is not a terribly experienced player on grass. But she is clearly experienced at winning matches: 210-25 lifetime, 44-2 in 1992 and 65-5 in Grand Slam tournaments.

Graf, who defeated Gabriela Sabatini in their semifinal, 6-3, 6-3, is 37-4 in 1992, 44-4 at Wimbledon, 162-23 in Grand Slam tournaments and completely aware that Seles represents a threat to win on grass or anywhere else.

“She hasn’t played as much on the grass as she has been on the other surfaces, but so far this tournament, I think she has shown that she is capable of playing very well on . . . any surface,” Graf said.