Swiss Teen Leaves Graf Clueless

Whatever became of Heidi?

Did a latter-day version of the Swiss storybook heroine put on sneakers and show up in the crimson dust of the Italian Open tennis tournament Friday, transferring from the Alps to become the Heidi of the Hills of Rome?

Of course this Heidi--born Martina Hingis--is a child millionaire, so she doesn’t have to milk the goats or attend to any of the other rural chores associated with Switzerland’s original. Although a slight 115 pounds, she does have the mountain girl’s sturdy legs and they enabled her to scale the uppermost peak in the tennis neighborhood--Steffi Graf.

Feeling like the quarterfinal goat of a hot, sunny afternoon instead of a pinnacle, No. 1 Graf, lost to the greenest player ever to beat her, the 15-year-old Hingis, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Graf, who hadn’t appeared in Rome since winning the Italian Open nine years ago as a 17-year-old, looked haggard and listless, sighing, “I didn’t have a clue what the hell I was doing out there.”

But Hingis, grinning like a kid at her birthday party after presenting herself the most lavish gift of her 19-month professional career, didn’t fret about Graf and clues.

“It was a great chance for me, to play, to beat No. 1--and I took it,” she said. “Steffi beat me bad the first two times we played. Now, the big players won’t be shaking to play such a young player. Now I beat Graf, they see what I can do and not feel so bad if I beat them. But every day can’t be like today.”

And there was a down side, if ever so slight, for the kid making her Roman debut.

“I always wanted to see the sights here, and I thought I would have time after losing to Steffi,” she said, grinning. “Now, no time. I have to keep playing.”

Next up today for the youngest semifinalist in the 66-year-old championship is Romanian Irina Spirlea, ranked 18th, who took out No. 2 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, 6-4, 6-3.

The defeats of Graf, who will still be No. 1 next week, thus breaking Martina Navratilova’s record 131 weeks at the top, and Sanchez Vicario, make the outlook rosier for the defender, Conchita Martinez, who has won here the last three years.

The Spaniard was sloppy but defeated Magdalena Maleeva, 6-1, 2-6, 6-1, and faces Croatia’s Iva Majoli, who stopped Nathalie Tauziat, 6-4, 6-1.

Hingis’ feat was the most startling adult abuse in this precinct since 1988, when Gabriela Sabatini, 17, whipped No. 1 Navratilova, in the semifinals, then won the title.

Popping up first on the WTA computer at No. 399 in 1994, Hingis has climbed steadily, surely like a bright, attentive Alpinist, to No. 20. However a pro-Graf crowd of 5,000 wasn’t expecting a sprint to the crest of the Matterhorn, especially after Graf pumped big forehands to run four games and take the first set in 29 minutes.

In the ensuing 79 minutes, Hingis crafted Graf’s defeat, only her fourth over the last 17 months.

Graf, though not sharp, gave no indication of the decline ahead when she broke back to 1-2 in the second set. But then she began making errors of all sorts and she was down, 2-5. Hingis double-barreled a backhand winner, then a forehand off the baseline, and they were dead even.

“I was insecure,” Graf said with a shrug. “I got worse and worse. I had no confidence, no patience and it showed. I wasn’t worried about her, I worried about myself. There are things beyond the court. I’m fighting myself.”

This may have been a sign of Graf’s increased turmoil, now that her father, Peter, after nearly a year in a German jail, has been indicted and will be tried for income tax evasion and other felonies.

“I have to work harder. This wasn’t a good preparation for the French,” said the four-time winner and reigning champion of the next major event that starts May 27 in Paris. “This was my first tournament on clay since the last French, and it showed.”

Defeated only twice last year, Graf is 13-2 for 1996, having fallen to Japan’s Kimiko Date in the Fed Cup two weeks ago.

Still, Graf conceded what had been obvious in the match.

“Martina shows extreme maturity, the feel of what to do,” she said. “You see her doing things like much older players--and maybe not even they can do.”

Thoughtful beyond her years and experience, Hingis wanted “to keep her on the move. I did.”

Graf, usually a zephyr, didn’t move well, never seized opportunities to leap forward for volleys, was thoroughly unimaginative.

And as Hingis got ahead, she firmed up her game and began hitting the corners, crossing up Graf, putting her moderate serve in unexpected places.

With the customers screaming for her at 3-4 in the third, Graf had a point to catch up, but missed a routine backhand and finally did herself in with a nervous break-point double fault.

“I’m sorry I stayed away so long,” Graf said. “Marvelous city. I missed a lot.”