Graf Not Too Sick to Win

Slightly injured, fighting a viral infection and about to face her nemesis in the final of a Grand Slam tournament. Things are looking good for Steffi Graf.

Coughing and blowing her nose at each changeover, Graf assured her place in today’s Wimbledon final by defeating Kimiko Date, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, in Friday’s conclusion of a rain-delayed semifinal.

It is the 26th time Graf and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario will meet in a final, the sixth time in the final of a Grand Slam event. The last 15 times they have played have been in finals, with Graf winning 10 of those.

“I think you’ve seen plenty of us in the finals, so I don’t think I have to comment too much about that,” said Graf, 19-6 in finals against Sanchez Vicario. “I hope the way the last few finals have been going, even if people say it’s the same match again, I think there has been some spectacular tennis and definitely no boring finals.”

The two provided the most spectacular match of last year’s tournament in the final, which Graf won. Graf won again last month at the French Open. Sanchez Vicario has never beaten Graf on grass. Neither player has lost on the surface this year.

The last time Graf lost in a Grand Slam final was two years ago at the U.S. Open to Sanchez Vicario.

Sanchez Vicario gave away no secrets when she said she’ll seek to exploit Graf’s backhand.

“You have to accept you can always play on her backhand because she runs very well to her forehand,” she said.

“That’s the shot she likes to play and the position she always wants. I just have to mix it up. I have to play my own game and go for it. I have nothing to lose.”

That’s the way Sanchez Vicario, seeded fourth, always plays.

“She doesn’t really miss,” Graf said. “She doesn’t give you easy points. You really have to play every single point, and that’s difficult over the course of two sets. You really have to be the aggressor, so you should never let up.”

Graf found herself in a similar position to the men’s defending champion, Pete Sampras: Playing badly and on the brink of elimination when the match was suspended for the night on Thursday. Unlike Sampras, who was two sets down to Richard Krajicek, Graf raised the level of her game the next day.

Date had set a torrid pace in the second set Thursday night, hitting deep, missing nothing and feeding off Graf’s power to fuel her own shots. Date said she wished play had continued, as there was still some light left.

“I wonder how long she could have kept up with it,” Graf said of Date’s play.

The answer came Friday morning. Date was solid, but Graf came out roaring and forced Date into errors and five double faults. Despite fighting a viral infection that settled in her head and lungs, Graf played sharply. The win avenges Graf’s loss to Date earlier this year during a Fed Cup match.

* WASHED OUT: MaliVai Washington and Todd Martin were tied at two sets apiece as rain suspended their Wimbledon semifinal and prevented the other from starting. C8