Graf, Sanchez Vicario Show Their 1-2 Punch : Wimbledon: Novotna makes top-seeded player work for three-set victory. Defending champion Martinez ousted.

It was more than a glimpse but something less than a fully convincing show offered by Jana Novotna and Conchita Martinez in the Wimbledon women’s semifinals Thursday.

They lost, but they won back respect that tentative play had cost them.

Steffi Graf beat Novotna but was made to play her best tennis yet here. Arantxa Sanchez Vicario beat Martinez, the defending champion, after leaving the safety of the baseline. Graf won, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, and Sanchez Vicario won, 6-3, 6-7 (7-5), 6-1.

The top-seeded Graf and the second-seeded Sanchez Vicario will play Saturday for the title.

Graf’s delight in winning--she waved vigorously to the crowd after the match and smiled--was a reflection of her relief. For the first time in a long time, she had been in a match she could have lost.

Players here have been saying that the fourth-seeded Novotna is the best grass-court player on the tour. And on Thursday, she dictated the game.

With little consistent competition, Graf has not often had to call upon her fighting instincts. Novotna’s flair and shot-making ability taxed Graf’s reliable forehand and bedeviled her vulnerable backhand.

The five-time Wimbledon champion had to step up her game, and the match was the best yet among the women for quality and drama.

“I was fighting out there,” Graf said. “She had a chance to break me in the third. I hung in there. I came to the net when I had to. I tried a lot. I think I got a lot of pleasure out of winning this because it was a close match.”

Novotna was pleased at not having to explain how she had let something slip away.

“This is the way I have wanted to play for a long, long time,” she said. “This is one of the best matches I’ve played against Steffi since the ’93 Wimbledon final. It was very exciting. I was playing pretty consistently during the whole match, but I felt that toward the end, Steffi was getting better and better. But it was a wonderful match. I enjoyed every minute of it.”

Novotna, of the Czech Republic, had not appeared to be enjoying herself before Thursday. In every news conference, she was reminded of the 1993 final, in which she had held a 4-1 lead in the third set and was a point away from 5-1. Novotna double-faulted then, let her game collapse and gave Graf the title.

Aware that she had thrown away her first Grand Slam tournament title, Novotna sobbed into the shoulder of the Duchess of Kent.

That alone would have been enough to forever link Novotna with choking at big events. But her performance at the French Open last month seemed to cement the association.

Novotna was playing lightly regarded Chanda Rubin in the third round. She was serving at 5-0, 40-0, in the final set. Despite holding nine match points, Novotna lost.

Against Graf on Thursday, Novotna was given every opportunity to fold but refused to do so. In fact, it was Graf who had to fight the negative thoughts that flooded in as she dropped the first set--the first she has lost here.

“At the end of the first set or the beginning of the second set, [I thought] ‘Too bad today.’ I was really thinking, ‘I’m going to lose this,’ and so I think, ‘Well, it’s a semifinal. I’m going to have to wait another year.’ I did think about that, I have to admit.”

Sanchez Vicario will be in her first Wimbledon final. The meaning of that to her is difficult to measure. Fiercely competitive, she might have brought another agenda onto Centre Court against Martinez. The two Spaniards are 23 and live in Barcelona. They are Fed Cup teammates. But little more bonds them.

Martinez long has lingered in Sanchez Vicario’s shadow and has been branded as the underachiever on the women’s tour.

When Martinez won here last year, Sanchez Vicario spent the next months answering questions about when she would win. Martinez dealt with internal questions of self-confidence and belief.

“To tell you the truth, the pressure was on her because she was the defending champion,” Sanchez Vicario said. “Probably we know there is a rivalry between us.”

Martinez suffered from blisters on both feet, which she had treated by a trainer during two injury timeouts, but she did not use the problem as an excuse. The blisters hardly seemed to hinder her progress to the net.

“I was surprised to get the second set because I wasn’t playing my best at the beginning,” Martinez said. “Suddenly, I calmed down and tried to play . . . just see what happens. I tried not to make so many mistakes. I was coming in a bit more to the net.”

Sanchez Vicario was stymied until she adjusted by putting pressure on Martinez to stay back. A tall and mobile player who can be dangerous if she claims the net, Martinez is dangerous if she finds a rhythm.

Everyone on the women’s tour acknowledges Martinez’s talent but until lately, Martinez has not been among them. She dipped to an emotional low point at the Australian Open in January, where she lost in the semifinals to Mary Pierce, 6-3, 6-1.

She appeared rudderless in that match and afterward offered a litany of excuses: It was too early in the day to play; her coach had told her to play down the middle of the court. . . .

She seemed to shake off her listlessness when she replaced her coach and adopted a more sunny outlook. But she’s not completely free of it.

“Sometimes you don’t have, you know, feelings,” she said, trying to explain her mental state. “Sometimes you feel great and sometimes you don’t feel quite. . . .

“It doesn’t mean you are going to lose every time you feel like that, but I think you had to believe. Once I won the second set, I felt I could probably win, but I didn’t believe enough.”