Hingis, Novotna Show Skills, Scorn on Their Way to Final

To get to Saturday’s Wimbledon final, Martina Hingis and Jana Novotna first had to wade through emotional backwaters that made the matches less about tennis and more about long-held grudges and, perhaps, a budding rivalry.

All that came together in Thursdays’ semifinals as the top-seeded Hingis defeated Anna Kournikova, 6-3, 6-2, and the third-seeded Novotna defeated eighth-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, 6-4, 6-2.

At 16, neither Hingis nor Kournikova has enough history to make for animosity. Their chilly hauteur carries nothing personal between them but is residual of each teenager’s supreme confidence.

“I don’t think it’s such a big rivalry,” Hingis said after her victory. “I think until now I’ve always been better, and I always beat her at the great tournaments, as I did this time again. So she still has something to improve.”

In contrast, Novotna and Sanchez Vicario, once doubles partners, have years of abrasiveness and remembered slights to fuel what, until Wednesday, was a simmering but largely one-way feud.

Their successful doubles partnership brought them 15 titles but the professional accord ended at the Atlanta Olympics, where Novotna and Sanchez Vicario met in the singles semifinal, which the Spaniard won.

Afterward, Novotna accused Sanchez Vicario of questioning an undue number of line calls, called her game simple and uncreative and finished with the assertion that Sanchez Vicario won, but, “When I step on the court, I am a more popular player than she is.”

Sanchez Vicario said little in response, but Novotna wouldn’t let go of it. During the medal ceremony, Novotna made a show of congratulating gold medalist Lindsay Davenport but snubbed silver medalist Sanchez Vicario.

That ended their doubles partnership. Novotna now plays with Davenport and Sanchez Vicario with Hingis.

Novotna criticized Sanchez Vicario again after their quarterfinal victories Wednesday. And Sanchez Vicario finally responded.

“She can say whatever she wants, the results are there,” said Sanchez Vicario, who has won three Grand Slam tournament titles. “When she wins a Grand Slam [event], then she can talk about it. I don’t care what she says. When a person is jealous, she can talk about it like that. But until she proves it, then she should not say that. We all know how she is, and I’m not going to argue about that.”

Relations were further strained before Thursday’s match. During a three-hour rain delay that clogged the schedule on Centre Court, players were given the option of playing sooner on Court 1. Sanchez Vicario voted to move, but Novotna voted to wait for Centre Court.

Because they were scheduled to play on Centre Court, the schedule prevailed.

Tension was notable during the match.

Sanchez Vicario got the early break in the fifth game of the first set. That set off a reaction of four consecutive service breaks. When the dust of that dismantling settled, Novotna had won the set, 6-4.

Novotna started quickly in the second set, breaking Sanchez Vicario in her first service game. Novotna was broken in the seventh game, as she was serving for the match, and the Centre Court crowd held its breath, anticipating an all-too-familiar disintegration by Novotna.

But Novotna took the break stoically, and after the changeover she strode back out, resolute. She made good on her second match point, with an emphatic overhead.