Novotna, Graf advance to final showdown
Novotna, Graf advance to final showdown
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (Reuter): Jana Novotna will attempt
to win her first tournament in four years Sunday when she takes
on top-seed Steffi Graf in the finals of the Advanta
Championships tennis tournament.
Novotna, the hard-hitting serve and volley specialist from the
Czech Republic made short work of Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia in
the semifinals with a 6-1 6-1 victory Saturday.
Then Steffi Graf beat scrappy American Marianne Werdel
Witmeyer, who saved seven match points before surrendering 6-2 7-
5.
It will be the ninth time the two players will face each
other for the ninth time since their memorable 1993 encounter at
Wimbledon in the finals, where Novotna squandered a lead in the
final set and lost.
Since then Novotna has taken only one set from Graf, who leads
their rivalry 25-3.
Realizing that and realizing how well Novotna is playing while
she's only rounding into form following a six-week layoff, Graf
is concerned.
"This will be a different match than we've played in the
past," said Graf, defending champion in this event.
"She's not going to make as many mistakes. "She's changed her
game a little bit and her service motion. She knows better what
to do on the court. Her tactics are better, which is why she's
had some success.
"When I started this tournament, I didn't think I'd get to
Sunday," said Graf, who dropped out of the tournament last
Saturday, but reconsidered the following day."
In Hartford, Connecticut, Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde
proved Saturday it will take a huge effort to prevent them from
winning their second Phoenix/ATP World Doubles Championship.
The top-ranked Australians needed only 60 minutes to eliminate
the No. 2 team of Grant Connell of Canada and Byron Black of
Zimbabwe, 6-3 6-3, in the semifinals.
The Woodies will be in the title round Sunday against Texan
Alex O'Brien and Canadian Sebastien Lareau, who advanced with a
tight 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (7-4) victory over Trevor Kronemann of the
US and David Macpherson of Australia.
"It didn't feel as easy as it looked," said Woodbridge, who
lost his service in the first game to help put his team behind 2-
0. "I was a little nervous at the start and we felt the
pressure."
If the Woodies are successful, they would be the first doubles
team to win the World title, the U.S. Open, Wimbledon and Olympic
gold in the same year. "That would be the icing on the cake for
us," said Woodbridge.
After that early service loss by Woodbridge, the Aussies were
just about perfect. They broke Connell to level the match at 3-3,
then broke Black in the eighth game, forcing the Zimbabwe athlete
into crucial volley errors. In the next game, Woodbridge served
out the set after overcoming two break points.