Schnyder's Hour Arrives at U.S. Open

Schnyder’s Hour Arrives at U.S. Open

By LISA DILLMAN

Sept. 7, 1998 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

NEW YORK —

The crafty left-hander fooled Steffi Graf with her kicking, spinning serve, losing seven points on her serve in the opening set.

Yes . . . seven points.

What in the name of Martina Navratilova was going on at the U.S. Open?

How about 19-year-old Patty Schnyder of Switzerland. The 11th-seeded Schnyder turned in the biggest victory of her career, and the most significant upset of the Open, defeating the eighth-seeded Graf, 6-3, 6-4, in 59 minutes in a fourth-round match on Sunday.

The last left-hander to dismantle Graf in such fashion at the Open was the incomparable Navratilova. Schnyder, though blessed with the wonderful skills of a lefty, is a baseliner who has had her best results on clay courts.

Because Schnyder has won five tournaments in 1998, her mastery of the confidence-impaired Graf was not a total surprise. But the comeback of Graf had taken a positive turn in recent days, as she beat Lindsay Davenport and Jana Novotna to win at New Haven, Conn.

Here, she seemed to be finding her range, losing three games in the last two matches. On Sunday, however, Schnyder made beating a legend appear, well . . . so so easy.

“I’m disappointed right now,” said Graf, a five-time winner of the tournament who committed 33 unforced errors. “But more about the way the match went rather than anything else. I’ve been playing better the last few weeks than this. I’m still having my setbacks. I feel I can do so much better than that.”

Said Schnyder: “It’s the biggest win I’ve had. To beat Steffi in a night session before such a big crowd, to go to the quarterfinals, it’s just really great. . . . We all have a lot of respect for Steffi because she is the greatest player of the last 10 years. It is difficult to see her as normal, as anyone else.”

These days, Graf has more ups and downs, still searching for a measure of consistency. In particular, the backhand slice, the shot that worked so well against Davenport and Novotna, was not there, going long and wide and floating toward Shea Stadium.

“She made a lot of mistakes,” Schnyder said. “I don’t know how she was feeling, but I think she was not happy with her game. I was playing good. I didn’t make a lot of unforced errors. So she had to play really hard and make the winners.” Graf was asked if she would be coming back to the U.S. Open in 1999 and she smiled, saying: “Hopefully.”

Her demeanor is a far cry from the subdued Graf of the spring, a period when she contemplated retirement because of her continuous series of injuries.

“When I started playing my first tournaments in England, I had no expectations whatsoever,” the 29-year-old said. “Really, it hasn’t changed very much. I’ve been going into the tournaments with no expectations whatsoever.

“At times, it has been difficult to accept it’s going to take a certain time. Then again, there were good and bad moments. I knew that they would come.”

Other top women players were pushed in the fourth round but managed to advance. Top-seeded and defending champion Martina Hingis of Switzerland overcame another crisis of over-confidence and defeated Nathalie Dechy of France, 6-4, 6-4. Sixth-seeded Monica Seles survived a second-set lapse and defeated Kimberly Po, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Wimbledon champion and third-seeded Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic had little trouble against ninth-seeded Irina Spirlea of Romania in a 6-3, 6-3 victory. Second-seeded Lindsay Davenport will play 10th-seeded Nathalie Tauziat of France today in a fourth-round match but was concerned enough about her strained right elbow to withdraw from her second-round mixed doubles match with partner Jan-Michael Gambill.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

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