TENNIS / FRENCH OPEN : Old-Style Graf Beats New-Look Martinez

Conchita Martinez did little wrong in Thursday’s French Open semifinal, other than putting herself in the highly vulnerable position between Steffi Graf and the final of a Grand Slam tournament.

Graf has won 15 Grand Slam tournaments but none since the 1994 Australian Open. That void has not gone unnoticed by her. With her goal in sight, not even a revived Wimbledon champion could forestall her steely intention of reaching her first Grand Slam tournament final in nine months.

Playing only well enough to win, Graf overcame 67 unforced errors, and Martinez’s newfound fight to win, 6-3, 6-7 (7-5), 6-3.

On a day that seemed as if it would be sunny, cold and damp weather prevailed at Roland Garros--a pattern that has held the entire tournament. Both women’s matches were played on center court under gray skies and with a chilly wind. Defending champion Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain defeated Kimiko Date of Japan in the other semifinal, 7-5, 6-3.

Graf will play in her seventh French Open final in nine years, and Sanchez Vicario will play in her second Grand Slam tournament final of the year. The winner of Saturday’s match will be ranked No. 1 next week.

Graf’s victory ended Martinez’s 24-match winning streak. Graf has a 24-match winning streak of her own, a statistic that includes no losses in 1995. In fact, Martinez’s second-set victory Thursday was the first set Graf has lost this year.

She looked very much like her former, pre-back-injury self in winning the first set in 31minutes. But Martinez ceased being her former, no-confidence-when-behind self in the second set and picked away at Graf’s backhand.

“I wasn’t nervous or anything,” Graf said. “But the thing is, it was so difficult to play. She plays it high. She plays it low--mixes it up constantly. It was difficult to find my rhythm.”

Graf, seeded second, jumped to a 4-1 lead in the second set and twice was two points away from winning the match, but Martinez, seeded fourth, played with assurance and showed a deftness at the net that is new to her.

“I really let it go,” Graf said. “I just let her dictate the game instead of being more aggressive. I just let her play, and [I] was constantly on the defensive.”

Martinez played the tiebreaker better than Graf, but neither was impressively precise. Graf netted many shots, but Martinez had 49 unforced errors of her own.

“At the end of the second set, I think she made some unforced errors, like maybe nerves,” Martinez said. “Of course, she was tense because I was coming back and playing much better.”

True enough, but in the next set it was Martinez who had three break points at 3-3 but failed to convert.

Graf served at 5-3 in the third, the second time she served for the match. The players matched point for point and the game was careening toward a showdown of nerves. Graf got to match point but sent a tight forehand into the net. She repeated the error on the next point and Martinez was presented with the first of her two break points in the game.

A Graf overhead winner brought her back to deuce, but another muffed forehand gave Martinez her second break point. It was Martinez’s turn to sail a loose forehand over the baseline.

As Graf had, Martinez committed consecutive forehand errors, and Graf had her second match point. The Spaniard got out of that jam but sent another forehand into the net to give Graf her final match point.

It would be rare for Graf to fail to take advantage of a third match point, and she didn’t, getting the victory when a backhand by Martinez sailed long.

Graf called the 2-hour 33-minute match her toughest of the season, and it became an important gauge of her fitness after her long bout with a back injury.

“I haven’t been on the court 2 1/2 hours since last year,” she said. “The last few weeks I wasn’t sure what my condition would be. I am really happy that I was able to go fully the distance, and I fought until the end.”

Sanchez Vicario didn’t get much of a fight from the ninth-ranked Date, whose poor serve never allowed her to gain the advantage. Her flat, deep strokes were easily handled by Sanchez Vicario, who has been battling a virus for a week.

“It was not an easy match,” Sanchez Vicario said. “If you let her play, she can be dangerous. On her points, she played very well. But what counts, on the important points, I probably played my best and I would be able to finish the match and win it.”