Graf Keeps Garrison Off Track

The footsteps, once faint and distant, have gained enough on West Germany’s Steffi Graf that she now knows she’s being followed.

Now she’s trying to cover her tracks and keep those chasing her No. 1 women’s tennis ranking on the wrong trail.

In the afternoon semifinal at the $225,000 Great American Bank tennis tournament Saturday, Graf’s showed why she’s still the hunted. She eluded Zina Garrison of Houston with a 6-4, 7-5 victory and advanced to today’s 1 p.m. final at the San Diego Tennis & Racquet Club.

Graf will play fourth-seeded Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere, a 6-0, 4-6, 6-1 winner over sixth-seeded Barbara Paulus in Saturday’s late match.

Garrison defeated Graf most recently at Wimbledon, but this also was a rematch of last year’s San Diego final, which Graf won by the same score.

Graf was happier this time around.

“Last year, I wasn’t playing very well,” said Graf, who has a 6-2 record against Garrison. “Today, I thought I was playing much better. I should have put it away at 6-4, 2-0, but still, I’m very happy.”

Graf said the fact that Garrison was a player who recently had eliminated her from a Grand Slam event was of little concern.

“I wasn’t nervous today at all,” Graf said. “My forehand’s much better. I’m not making many mistakes anymore. I’m much more relaxed.”

In front of a standing-room-only crowd, Graf let a 2-0 lead escape in the second set and found herself down, 4-2 and then 5-3. But Graf held serve, broke Garrison and then held serve again to take a 6-5 lead.

Garrison’s chances of forcing a tiebreaker dimmed after she double-faulted and mis-hit a volley and a groundstroke. They finally dissolved with Graf’s cross-court backhand winner that left Garrison flat on her feet at midcourt.

“I think I played well, but not as well as I could have,” Garrison said. “I missed some easy shots at the end of the match that normally I don’t miss. But Steffi kept the pressure on me.”

Garrison fought the flu early in the week and said she almost had to withdraw from the tournament, but she refused to make excuses.”

“You can’t blame it on that,” she said, “I felt a little bit tired, but it was hot out there, and my legs were just a little rubbery.”

Graf said Garrison has the type of game that troubles her, especially since Garrison’s backcourt game has improved.

“She’s never an easy player to play against,” Graf said. “It’s the kind of game that’s hard to get into rhythm. Lately she’s been playing well, and she’s not making the mistakes that she used to. She was shaky from the back, but she’s gotten a lot steadier.”

With No. 2-ranked and second-seeded Martina Navratilova withdrawing Tuesday, thus blowing the air out of a Graf-Navratilova showdown, there was speculation that this match would be the real final.

Not so, Graf said.

“Tomorrow’s the last match,” she said. “I know this would be a hard match, but it’s the same for the finals. Whoever gets in the final has a high level, too.”

Graf celebrates her three-year anniversary as the world’s No. 1 player Aug. 16, and she said it is sometimes a hard role to live with.

“I’m surprised by No. 1 ranking for three years,” she said. “I came in at 18 years. I didn’t expect to be there at that age, and not for that consistent time.

“It’s not easy. It’s not the tennis itself. It’s the life around me that makes it not the easiest and sometimes not the most enjoyable. But whenever I’m back on the court, I enjoy it.”

Maleeva-Fragniere needed just 15 minutes to take the first set, but Paulus switched from a short game to playing deeper and caught an indecisive Maleeva-Fragniere.

“In the first set I was all over the court,” said Maleeva-Fragniere, now a resident of Switzerland. “I was moving her around. In the second set, I made mistakes. I wasn’t sure if I should step in to hit the ball or stay back. I wasn’t sure what to do.”

Paulus, a 19-year-old from Austria, was burned by Maleeva-Fragniere’s drop shots throughout the match--a shot that could help her against Graf.

“She has a good drop shot,” Paulus said. “She hits it very well.”

But just how much will that, or any shot for that matter, help Maleeva-Fragniere against Graf? Not much, judging by her track record. She is 0-11 against Graf since they met the first time in 1985 at the U.S. Open.

“I think she has her chances,” said Paulus, who pointed out that Manuela’s sister, Katerina, took a set from Graf last week in the final of the Canadian Open in Montreal. “But it’s always difficult to play against the No. 1 player.”

Maleeva-Fragniere defended her record against Graf.

“We’ve had a few close matches,” she said. “I was not the only one she was beating easy. Sometimes she killed me, yes. But I think I’m playing well now. I have to play with courage.”

Channel 51 and Prime Ticket will carry today’s final live.