Great Day for Graf, Great Game for Both : Wimbledon: She wins sixth championship by outlasting Sanchez Vicario with a memorable finish, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5.

By JULIE CART

July 9, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

WIMBLEDON, England —

Women’s tennis, maligned and belittled for two weeks at Wimbledon, reared up and struck back Saturday at its most opportune moment.

Steffi Graf and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario provided a stirring women’s singles final that should blot out the fat jokes and the fitness jokes and boring jokes. The match, offering athleticism, intelligence and finesse, was perhaps the best-played women’s Grand Slam final in a generation.

Graf’s 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory will be long remembered for a single seemingly endless game. Graf broke Sanchez Vicario in the 11th game of the third set, a dramatic game that went to deuce 13 times and lasted 20 minutes. That break led to Graf’s sixth Wimbledon title.

Graf, who won the French Open last month, has not lost a match this year. The No. 1-ranked Graf won $525,000 and No. 2 Sanchez Vicario won $262,000.

Sanchez Vicario, playing in her first Wimbledon final, opened the match with laser-like focus and aggressive no-nonsense play. She won the first set in 30 minutes, giving up only four points on her serve. Graf set to work and won the second.

The third set was closely contested, never more than the monumental 11th game.

“That produced the best tennis of both of us,” Graf said. “Neither of us played any loose points, nobody gave up. We really tried, both of us, we were going for it. We tried to come in, nobody let up. There was some great tennis.”

Ever alert to tennis history when it is unfolding before them, the knowledgeable fans at Centre Court abandoned their polite reserve and gave themselves over to the moment: unbridled screaming and whistling during the long game, cheering for the thrilling points rather than the players. Even the guests in the Royal Box--who may be moved to tap their programs on their knees to acknowledge a particularly fine shot--could be seen vigorously clapping.

“I know the people in the crowd were getting excited because it was longer and longer,” Sanchez Vicario said. “But in my mind I just tried to be calm and concentrate on each point.”

In the midst of the tumult, the players were steely. Graf had six break points and Sanchez Vicario had eight game points during the game. The players traded tense shots, Sanchez Vicario boldly attacking Graf’s forehand and Graf defusing the Spaniard’s lobs with effective overhead smashes. Graf had 10 winners off overheads.

Both players are supremely fit, but the game tested each on a warm and humid day. It was hardest on Sanchez Vicario, who had to serve 44 times.

Neither player showed overt emotion as the game wore on, other than a discreet fist pump or a thigh-slapping “Come on!” Graf allowed herself an exultant moment when she earned her last break point. On the ensuing point Graf pinned Sanchez Vicario into a corner with a deep forehand. Sanchez Vicario retrieved the ball, but her backhand didn’t reach the net.

The stadium, players and fans alike, let out a collective sigh at the end of the game and the fans applauded both players. It only seemed like the end of the match: It was left to Graf to serve it out.

Three successive errors from an exhausted Sanchez Vicario set up triple championship point. Sanchez Vicario sent a backhand long, and Graf took the opportunity before the trophy presentation to run up to the players’ box, where she hugged her family and coach.

During the award ceremony, Graf received the Rosewater Dish from the Duchess of Kent, the huge silver platter that goes to the women’s champion. Following a modern tradition, Graf took a lap of honor, posing at various points on the court to allow fans to take pictures. Graf sheepishly dragged her hardware around the court as Sanchez Vicario looked on, clinging to her smaller runner-up trinket.

Moments earlier she had offered to trade Graf, playfully tugging on the champion’s platter.

Sanchez Vicario was asked about the gesture, if she believed that she deserved to win.

“I think this match could have gone one way or another,” she said after finishing second in a Grand Slam event for the third time this year. “Finally it went her side. I think it was very good tennis, either one could win. I’m pleased with the way I played and I kept fighting. “

Both players said they had never played better at a more important moment. They meant at a moment more important to them, but it could also be taken as important to their sport, which is poised at the edge of a public relations abyss.

English reporters have picked up the drumbeat, criticizing the women’s game. Endless articles have been written in bad taste over the fortnight, making an array of statements, mostly calling some players fat, unfit and dull.

Two major London newspapers ran articles Saturday critical of the women’s game, primarily calling it boring. It is a legitimate observation, but the timing could not have been worse for the writer.

Sanchez Vicario was asked if, for the good of the game, the match had been important.

“It’s great,” she said. “It means that women’s tennis is improving and it’s great tennis. Today we have great rallies, good points, even on the net or staying back. I think it means a lot for women’s tennis, and there has been a lot of talking in the past. With this match today you realize how good players we have and how good tennis we can play. It’s good for us to play these kind of matches.”

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Match Maker

A look at the marathon 11th game of the third set of the Wimbledon women’s championship:

Points: 32

Deuces: 13

Game Points (Sanchez Vicario): 8

Break Points (Graf): 6

Aces: 1 (Sanchez Vicario)

Double Faults: 0

Length of game: 20 minutes

WIMBLEDON

Steffi Graf added to her impressive resume with her latest Grand Slam championship: GRAND SLAM TOURNAMENT WOMEN’S SINGLES TITLES No.: Player