Destiny Is Now for Graf, Seles : U.S. Open: Co-No. 1 players oust Sabatini and Martinez to set up today’s much-anticipated final.

The probability of Steffi Graf and Monica Seles meeting in the women’s singles final at the U.S. Open has created its own kind of urgency here in the last two weeks.

Graf and Seles, seeded No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, have seemingly been destined to play for the title as surely as if lines had been traced from their names at the top and bottom of the draw to today’s intersecting point.

Seldom do events oblige projections so wholly, but it happened in Friday’s semifinals, when Graf defeated Gabriela Sabatini, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), and Seles defeated Conchita Martinez, 6-2, 6-2.

Seles and Graf share uncommon wills and skills and the No. 1 ranking. Each has endured painful personal setbacks. Seles was stabbed in the back during a tournament in Germany by a deranged fan of Graf’s, who was seeking his heroine’s return to the No. 1 rank. He got his wish. Seles, at first injured and then afraid, stayed away from the game for 28 months.

Graf has been assailed by her own demons--painful bone spurs in her back, a problem with the bones in her left foot, and, not least, the imprisonment of her father on tax-evasion charges.

Given her physical and emotionally fragility this season, it is astonishing that Graf has lost only once and carries a 38-1 record into today’s final. She has lost seven sets in the entire season.

Seles’ season, though much shorter, has been no less remarkable. She’s 11-0 and won the first tournament she entered.

With the stadium flags snapping, and dark clouds threatening rain Friday, Graf seemed intent on getting off the court before the rain began.

She was fortunate she got off the court when she did, not because of rain but because her opponent, the surprisingly steely Sabatini, played better than Graf did and still lost.

Although Graf and the ninth-seeded Sabatini each managed to get to break point several times in the first set, neither was able to convert. Graf broke first, and at the most opportune moment. Sabatini was serving at 4-5 and Graf’s relentless pressure got her the break and the first set.

The Argentine’s normally suspect serve was anything but on Friday. With the exception of six double faults to Graf’s three, Sabatini’s serve was the stronger. She got in 80% of her first serves to Graf’s 65%. Sabatini was also steadier, committing 33 unforced errors to Graf’s 42.

“It was disappointing because I had a pretty good chance,” said Sabatini, who defeated Graf in the 1990 Open final. “The whole match, I had chances. I think I should have won the [second] set and I think I could have won the match.”

Graf did her utmost to make sure that didn’t happen. She broke Sabatini while she was serving for the second set at 6-5. Graf opened the tiebreaker with an ominous double fault, but Sabatini did the same thing five points later.

Graf won the match after a point that featured a long rally. Graf made an unusual foray to the net and lunged wide to her forehand to get to a passing shot. She sent a drop shot back that Sabatini couldn’t reach in time.

After hugging her mother in the players’ box, Graf raced off the court in tears, either of relief or pain.

Seles and the fourth-seeded Martinez took the court around 3:30 p.m. but played under lights. The match that had promised to give Seles her first look at an all-court player fizzled into something much less. Martinez played passively and was content to retrieve Seles’ sharply struck shots.

Martinez lost the first set in 45 minutes, and her game then became less about retrieval than survival. The Spaniard double-faulted on match point, grimaced, then shook Seles’ hand at the net.

Seles was giddy afterward.

“To play against Steffi is going to be fun,” she said. “It’s going to be a great day, either way it goes. Definitely I am going to be psyched for it.”