Steffi Graf running hot

Press, 26 June 1987, Page 30

Steffi Graf running hot

The score stands at 40-0 for the West German wunderkind who remains unbeaten for seven months on cement, clay and, now, grass. Graf, who turned 18 earlier this month, stretched her run to 40 successive wins yesterday when she rolled past Adriana Villagran, of Argentina, 6-0, 6-2, in the first round of the Wimbledon tennis championships. “I felt very good. I enjoyed every second of it,” Graf said afterwards.

Two and a half weeks

ago, when she was still 17, Graf became the youngest winner of the women’s championship at the French Open in Paris, notching her first Grand Slam title by beating Martina Navratilova, whose world No. 1 title she-will also usurp if she can win this All England cham- . pionship. After the French Open success Graf said that moving from the clay of Paris to the grass of Wimbledon, where she has never advanced beyond the fourth round, would be much tougher.

But the grass surface didn’t seem to pose any problems for her during the match against Villagran. Graf timed the ball to perfection. When she slipped up once — losing her serve in the middle of the second set — she responded by ripping off the last five games. The German won 16 of the last 17 points and was back in the locker room after just 42 minutes. “I even felt more comfortable today than I did in Paris,” Graf said. “I

didn’t miss much, everything worked.” Graf said she was not worried about the winning streak* coming to an end. “I do not feel any pressure. When something is working so well, why should you worry about it? “Sure, something like this is going to end sometime but I don’t think about that. “The first Grand Slam win is different from any other, but the thing about tennis is, you must look to the next tournament right away.