AUSTRALIAN OPEN : Sabatini Joins Upset Victims in First Round

Lurking in the mist that descended on the National Tennis Center Tuesday night were the dangers that stalk seeded players at Grand Slam events: Opening-match jitters and worthy opponents eager to surprise.

Three of the Australian Open’s top-seeded players were waylaid in similar fashion, undone by some weakness of their own or by the design of their opportunistic opponents. The women’s side lost fifth-seeded Gabriela Sabatini, 6-4, 6-4, to Marianne Werdel Witmeyer, who simply waited for Sabatini’s lower back and nerves to fall apart.

The men’s side lost third-seeded Boris Becker, who was beaten, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), by Patrick McEnroe, and fourth-seeded Goran Ivanisevic, who fell, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, to Carl-Uwe Steeb.

None of the losses were shocking. Becker was tormented by McEnroe here four years ago when he was ousted in the semifinal.

Sabatini confounded her critics when she won the Virginia Slims Championships last November after going 2 1/2 years without a tour title. She beat Lindsay Davenport in a warm-up tournament here.

Scheduled as the first night match on a cold and windy center court, Sabatini and Werdel Witmeyer played in front of a decidedly pro-Sabatini crowd. Werdel Witmeyer’s intelligent shot-making silenced Sabatini, if not the crowd. The former Stanford All-American won the first set as Sabatini double-faulted.

Sabatini was up, 3-0, in the second set when she began to unravel, losing her serve two times at love and serving numerous double faults. She committed seven double faults in the match to Werdel Witmeyer’s one.

In the seventh game, after Sabatini squandered four consecutive games, she sat down at the changeover and asked for a tour trainer. Sabatini eventually requested a three-minute timeout and lay face down on the court while her lower back was treated.

Sabatini gingerly returned to the court but managed to win only one game and Werdel Witmeyer quickly closed out the set. She said later she was unaware of Sabatini’s problems.

“I don’t know when the injury came about or how it was affecting her, but even in the end when she started double faulting, she was still hitting her serves very hard,” she said. “I would assume that if it hurt to where she couldn’t serve then she would have been serving very softly.”

The match was a battle of two of the most popular players on the women’s tour. Werdel Witmeyer, ranked No. 47, is the vice president of the Players’ Assn. and last year won the Player Service Award. Her husband Ron is a first baseman in the Oakland A’s organization.

While Sabatini was dealing with her pain, Werdel Witmeyer had troubles of her own. She had strained abdominal muscles, which she did not mention in the postmatch news conference.

“You become accustomed to injuries,” she said. “Everybody out there is playing with injuries, and you can’t count someone out when they’re hurt. You know they wouldn’t be out there if they didn’t think they could win.”

Sabatini, who is also playing doubles, said she began to feel pain on the right side of her lower back in the beginning of the second set and the pain remained even after she received treatment. The injury, which was characterized as a muscle strain, surfaced last week.

Whatever it may turn out to be, Sabatini has now been removed from the path of top-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.

Tennis Notes

No. 1 seed Pete Sampras continues to roll, beating Jan Kroslak, 6-2, 6-0, 6-1, in the second round. On the women’s side, No. 3-seeded Jana Novotna defeated Patricia Hy-Boulias, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0, and No. 11 Mary Joe Fernandez defeated Els Callens, 7-5, 6-4. Martina Hingis, 14, lost to Kyoko Nagatsuka, 6-3, 6-4. . . . Alarming news for the women’s tour: Strict Australian quarantine rules have prohibited the arrival of hordes of the small companion dogs that populate the women’s tour. . . . New math from the WTA now figures it is mathematically impossible for Arantxa Sanchez Vicario to overtake No. 1 Steffi Graf, unless she wins the tournament and gains 135 bonus points by beating seeded players. . . . From Australian tennis great Fred Stolle, a tip on the proper way to watch the tournament: “The thing to do is get yourself a slab of tinnies and barrack in the stands.” Which means, one should obtain a six-pack of beer and retire to the stands to cheer.