Evert, Graf to meet in Aust. Open final

Press, 22 January 1988, Page 36

Evert, Graf to meet in Aust. Open final

NZPA-Reuter Melbourne Chris Evert will play Steffi Graf in the final of the Australian Open tennis after defeating her friend and rival, Martina Navratilova, 6-2, 7-5 in Melbourne yesterday. Evert, using her twohanded backhand with deadly effect, was always on top of an out-of-touch Navratilova in their seventy-sixth meeting over 15 years.

The 129-minute semifinal triumph was Evert’s first over Navratilova in a Grand Slam tournament since the final of the 1986 French Open. Navratilova leads Evert, 40-36, in the series. Earlier, Graf, the world No. 1, destroyed her fellow West German, Claudia Kohde-Kilsch, 6-2, 6-3, to reach tomorrow’s final, her first in the Australian Open. Evert’s placement, coupled with her normal power on both sides, proved too potent for the left-handed No. 2 seed, who had big problems with her volleying. Evert, aged 33, broke her Czechoslovakia-born opponent’s serve in the second game with the first of many crisp cross-court backhands. Navratilova was broken

again for 5-1 as Evert kept her tagged on the baseline and passed her at will when she ventured to the net. Evert took the first set, 6-2, in 32 minutes but Navratilova came back firing in the second, breaking Evert’s serve in the opening game. Both players found difficulty . holding their serves in the swirling wind but Navratilova’s tendency to net key volleys kept her under pressure. The match looked like going into three sets when Navratilova served for the second set at 5-4. But Evert won three games in a row, taking the match on her first matchpoint when Navratilova hit a forehand too long. The final will be Evert’s sixth in six appearances at. the Australian Open. It is her thirty-fourth Grand Slam final. The tradition of EvertNavratilova clashes made their match a more memorable if tense affair than the earlier, undistinguished semi-final between the West Germans. Graf now has a 5-2 winning record over Kohde-Kilsch and has

won the last five matches in a row. She said later she was keen to do well in Melbourne because it was the first tournament of the year and the first Grand Slam event. Previously she was a finalist at Wimbledon and the United States Open, after winning the French Open, and said that the experience would make it a. lot easier for her tomorrow. After her match she headed off to the practice courts. “I want to work on my serve because in the last two matches I haven’t been serving as well,” she said. On the final, Graf said, “I want to be much more concentrated and ready for every single point, which I wasn’t today.” Results.— Women’s singles, semifinals: Steffi Graf (West Germany) beat Claudia KohdeKilsch (West Germany), 6-2, 6-3; Chris Evert (United States) beat Martina Navratilova (United States), 6-2, 7-5. Mixed doubles, quarterfinals: David McPherson (Tasmania)-Janine Thompson (New South Wales) beat Carl Limberger-Dianne Balestrat (New South Wales), 7-5, 6-4.