A Confident Graf Will Be Tough to Beat

Steffi Graf has dominated the Women’s Tennis Assn. tour in the 10-month absence of Monica Seles, who has not played since she was stabbed by a spectator last April 30 during a tournament at Hamburg, Germany.

Graf has won 10 of her last 11 tournaments, including all four Grand Slam events, and is 60-2 since May 2, when she lost to Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the final at Hamburg.

So, the focus will be on Graf in the Evert Cup, which runs today through Sunday at Hyatt Grand Champions. The seven other seeded players in the 32-player field--Mary Joe Fernandez, Lindsay Davenport, Natalia Zvereva, Helena Sukova, Amanda Coetzer, Sabine Hack and Judith Wiesner--are a combined 2-73 against the world’s top-ranked player. Zina Garrison-Jackson has withdrawn because of a sore Achilles’ tendon.

Second-seeded Fernandez, who won the Evert Cup last year but is winless in 11 matches against Graf, said: “She is pretty invincible right now. She’s very confident, and when Steffi gets confident, it’s tough to beat her. She’s really on a high.”

What will it take to beat her?

“You have to play very aggressively,” Fernandez said. “You can’t let her dictate play. She’s very fast and, obviously, when she’s on the offensive, you’re in big trouble.

“It’s hard to (play her aggressively) because she has a big serve, but the players that have done well against her are the ones who have attacked her and have been able to put her under pressure.”