TENNIS / AUSTRALIAN OPEN : Graf, Sanchez Vicario Reach Final

Steffi Graf, seeking her fourth Australian Open title in seven years but her first since 1990, overpowered Kimiko Date, 6-3, 6-3, today to set up a final against Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.

Sanchez Vicario, who had lost in the semifinals the last three years, defeated Gabriela Sabatini, 6-1, 6-2, to reach her first Australian Open final.

Graf won the first nine points of the match and quickly opened a 5-1 lead. She finished the first set in 31 minutes, then broke serve in the opening and closing games of the second set and completed the match in 61 minutes.

“I think it was a match we both didn’t have a lot of rhythm,” the top-seeded Graf said. “She went for a lot of shots and she made a lot of them, but she also made some errors. I expected today a tougher match than it ended up.”

Graf won the Australian Open in 1988, 1989 and 1990. The last three years it was won by Monica Seles, who is still recovering after being stabbed in the back during a match last April.

Date, seeded 10th, was the first Japanese player in the semifinal of a Grand Slam tournament since 1973.

No. 2 Sanchez Vicario, mixing hard ground strokes with delicate drop shots, finished off No. 4 Sabatini in 65 minutes, winning the last four games.

Graf has a 21-5 record against Sanchez Vicario. But the last time Graf lost in a Grand Slam tournament to anyone other than Seles was to Sanchez Vicario in the quarterfinals of the 1992 U.S. Open.

“I’m not afraid. I’m going to play my own game--she’s the one under pressure,” Sanchez Vicario said. “She’s beatable. She’s human, she’s not a machine.”

On Wednesday, third-seeded Jim Courier had his Grand Slam attitude back, beating No. 5 Goran Ivanisevic in straight sets to advance to the semifinals against top-seeded Pete Sampras.

Another American, Todd Martin, will face Sweden’s Stefan Edberg in the other semifinal. It is the first time since 1982 three Americans are in the men’s semifinals of the Australian Open.