Sanchez beats Graf to become youngest French Open winner

Press, 12 June 1989, Page 21

Sanchez beats Graf to become youngest French Open winner

NZPA-Reuter Paris Arantxa Sanchez upset the world number one, Steffi Graf, in an exciting final on Saturday to become the youngest French Open women’s tennis champion and the first Spanish woman to win a Grand Slam title.

Sanchez, aged 17 years, 6 months, is nearly six months younger than Graf was when she won her first French title in 1987. She dashed the West German’s hopes of taking the crown for a record third time in succession. Sanchez, seventh seed, fought back from 5-3 down in the deciding set to win 7-6, 3-6, 7-5. She ended Graf’s run of six Grand Slam successes and became only the second woman to beat Graf this year.

One of the longest women’s finals at Roland Garros — two hours and 58 minutes — ended when Graf, looking increasingly uncomfortable and suffering from cramps — put a backhand into the net and Sanchez tumbled to the clay in sheer relief. “It is a wonderful day for me. This is what I have wanted all my life," said a tearful Sanchez before rushing to hug her

parents and brother Emilio, the world’s 14thranked player who had flown in from Spain for the final.

Graf, looking pale and worn out, embraced her opponent after the tough match. “I just didn’t feel at my best at the end,” she said. “I was feeling weak and I just made too many mistakes.” Graf, who had not dropped a set against Sanchez in their three previous meetings, looked in trouble from early on when Sanchez broke her to go 3-2 ahead in the first set and then fended off five break-points to hold serve.

By that point the match had already lasted longer than last year’s fiml, when Graf thrashed the Soviet teenager Natalia Zvereva in 34 minutes without losing a game. Sanchez, ranked 10th in the world, was serving for the set at 5-4 when Graf broke her and held her own serve to go 6-5 up. The stocky Spaniard, who relies on sheer determination rather than power and chases the ball all over the court, saved two set-points in the next game to take the set to a tie-break, which she won 8-6 to cheers of “Ole!”

from the 16,500 spectators.

Graf, who lost only three times in 72 matches last year and began 1989 by successfully defending her Australian Open title, found her killer instinct deserting her on several occasions as she hit uncharacteristic errors.

Sanchez, losing finalist in the Italian Open last month, saved three more set-points in the second set but hit a backhand into the net on the fourth to allow Graf to pull level. Despite continuing to battle fiercely, Sanchez found herself two breaks down in the third set, giving away the sixth game on a double-fault. Graf was serving for the match at 5-4 but another string of mistakes, mostly on her backhand, handed Sanchez a break to love and a chance to stay in the struggle. The West German, stretching her legs between points to fight off an attack of cramp, was broken again to love to give Sanchez a 6-5 lead. At the changeover Graf rushed from the court, returning after several minutes.

Asked later why she had gone off, Graf replied curtly: “You really want

to know? Because of my period.”

Another backhand error by Graf took Sanchez to match-point and the spectators leapt to their feet as the West German misjudged a shot again to give the Barcelona teenager the most important victory of her career. Sanchez, who last year became the first player to keep Chris Evert out of the semi-finals in 13 French Open appearances when she beat the American in the third round, said she had always believed she could beat Graf.

“When (Michael) Chang beat (Ivan) Lendl I thought ‘Why not?’ ” she said.

Chang, the youngest men’s finalist ever at Roland Garros at age 17 years, three months, will play Stefan Edberg for the title on Sunday after knocking out the world number one, Lendl, in the fourth round. “I went out on to the court feeling 100 per cent mentally and telling myself that I could win against the world number one. So I was very positive and I fought for every point,” Sanchez said.

She said she had

received a telephone call from Lili de Alvarez, the last Spanish woman to reach Grand Slam finals in 1926, 1927 and 1928 when she played at Wimbledon.

“She wished me good luck and said we would see each other at Wimbledon,” said Sanchez, whose only other career title came in her home town of Barcelona in April. Graf, who has also been coping with food poisoning in Paris, had words of praise for her conqueror. “I know her quite well and she is always verynice,” Graf said. “She is just a great person so I feel good for her.” But she was bitterly disappointed with her own game. “It is not me that is playing on the court at the moment,” she said. “I had my chances and I didn’t use them at all today.”

Graf, who plays in Sunday’s women’s doubles final with the Argentine Gabriela Sabatini, said she would go home for a few days to think things over.

“But I will be going to England and I am looking forward to Wimbledon, that’s for sure,” she added.