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.