Date Stages Turnaround Against Sanchez Vicario

After four games of the Toshiba Tennis Classic final Sunday, the only question seemed to be whether Kamiko Date would avert a shutout.

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain, the No. 1-seeded player in the $450,000 tournament and ranked No. 2 in the world, was up, 4-0, and heading toward her ninth consecutive victory over the Japanese star since losing in their first meeting four years ago.

Somehow, Date found her game, and in the end, the favored Sanchez Vicario was blown out. Date won going away, 3-6, 6-3, 6-0, at La Costa Resort & Spa.

The victory was the first in nine seasons on the American tour for Date, 25, who was seeded fourth here and is ranked ninth in the world. The defeat was the fifth in a row in tour finals for Sanchez Vicario, 24, who has won two tournaments this year. She also finished second here in 1993 and 1994 before losing in the quarterfinals last year.

Once Date pulled herself together, she hit almost every shot deep and into one corner or the other. Her serve wasn’t much, but her ground strokes were devastating, especially her two-handed backhand, and she was overpowering at the net.

Afterward, Date noted that she had almost beaten Sanchez Vicario in the Olympic quarterfinals in Atlanta last month. The score then was 4-6, 6-3, 10-8.

Speaking through an interpreter, Date said, “I had been overwhelmed by her physical ability. She seemed too strong. But at the Olympics, I had a good game plan, and I played a good match, only I lost.”

As for her comeback Sunday, Date said, “At first, Arantxa didn’t make any unforced errors, but in the second set I was gradually getting used to her timing, and I was moving faster and hitting the ball better.

“In the third set, I was playing with some driving force behind me.”

Said Sanchez Vicario: “You know her shots are coming at you hard, but it’s the angles she hits that hurt you. I couldn’t attack or go to the net because she was making so many winners.”

Sanchez Vicario’s last real challenge fizzled when, with the score, 5-3, against her in the second set, she lost Game 9 after six deuces. Date won two love games and 14 of 15 points during one stretch of the third set.

Sanchez Vicario and Larisa Neiland of Latvia lost the doubles final to American Gigi Fernandez and Spain’s Conchita Martinez, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.