Sanchez Vicario

NEW YORK -- Arantxa Sanchez Vicario strolled onto the National Tennis Center's old Center Court -- that is now called Court No. 2 -- looking trim, fit and ready to play.Certainly, after 12 years on tour, a little five-hour rain delay would have little impact on her game. The 78th-ranked Meilen Tu, however, forced Sanchez Vicario to play a set longer than she wanted before being able to walk off with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, second-round victory in the U.S. Open yesterday.Still, Sanchez Vicario and Tu were the lucky ones.

WIMBLEDON, England -- The Wimbledon Championships were put right yesterday by a hacking woman playing wondrous tennis.No. 1 seed Steffi Graf, the only player, man or woman, to live up to her ranking during this fortnight, overcame a cough, sniffles and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario to win a seventh singles title on Wimbledon's Centre Court lawn."

PARIS -- From ferocious to fragile and back again, Steffi Graf, the defending champion of the French Open, retained her title yesterday in a 3-hour, 3-minute epic confrontation with fourth-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain.Graf's 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 10-8 victory, the longest women's final ever played at Roland Garros, reduced Sanchez Vicario to tears of exhaustion and Graf to tears of joy, and delivered the resolute German her 19th Grand Slam singles title. The dramatic victory moved her into a tie with Helen Wills Moody for second place in her sport's most prestigious record book behind Australian Margaret Court's 24 titles.

VALENCIA, Spain -- American rookie Chanda Rubin stole some of the spotlight with an upset victory over Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, but Spain overcame the United States, 3-2, to capture its third consecutive Federation Cup title yesterday.After Spain took a 2-0 lead on the first day of the five-match final, Conchita Martinez clinched the victory by defeating U.S. No. 1 Mary Joe Fernandez, 6-3, 6-4. Rubin, who replaced injured Monica Seles, stopped the Spanish singles blitz by beating Sanchez Vicario, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, before a sold-out stadium of 6,000 chanting fans.

NEW YORK -- Martina Hingis stepped onto the Stadium Court at the U.S. Open yesterday and captured the fans' imagination.Was it Hingis, the 15-year-old from Switzerland named for Martina Navratilova, giving the geometry lesson from the baseline, or was it Chris Evert all over again?It was a question to ponder as Hingis guided her forehands down the line and constructed points the way Evert used to, using four and five shots to build her way to an acute-angled winner.Her method worked superbly as she overcame her own emotions to beat the more experienced, No. 3 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, to move into the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

NEW YORK -- This is for all those who say that women's tennis is dull, that upsets come about as often as leap years, that the Grand Slam semifinals are nothing more than clubby, chummy get-togethers involving Gaby and Steffi and Monica and Martina.The party has been crashed.Yesterday, another seed came tumbling out of the draw.Say goodbye to Steffi Graf.The No. 2 seed, the reigning Wimbledon champion, the player whose career was literally launched on the hard courts of Flushing Meadow, was beaten by No. 5 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, 7-6 (7-5)

NEW YORK -- Martina Navratilova was dressed in a floral shirt, black jeans and white sneakers, now, darting to the television studios, answering the same round of questions about her age, her career and her summer.She had left another younger opponent beaten and breathless in a third set in a U.S. Open quarterfinal yesterday. It wasn't her greatest show at Louis Armstrong Stadium, but she still hit the notes that have made her career a long-running symphony. Thirty-four years old and seeded No. 6, she beats a drum of volleys, this time pounding a 19-year-old named Arantxa Sanchez Vicario into the hard court for a 6-7 (6-8)

NEW YORK -- Jana Novotna. You remember her. The woman who never seems able to win the really big ones. The one who blew a 4-1 lead in the final set at Wimbledon, the one who hasn't been to the finals of a major tournament since.You remember her. But last night, in the quarterfinals of the Chase Championships at Madison Square Garden, you wouldn't have recognized her.No. 5 seed Novotna captivated everyone, as she upset No. 2-ranked Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, 6-0, 6-3."Does it look to you like I'm playing the best tennis of my life?"

NEW YORK -- After the rains came, the winds blew. They buffeted the National Tennis Center, and bothered Steffi Graf nearly as much as Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere, her opponent in yesterday's U.S. Open women's semifinal.But not for long.After Maleeva-Fragniere woke up the crowd by winning the opening set, another storm kicked up, this time inside Graf's head. It didn't bring rain, just rage. It was unleased by the top seed and two-time Open champion and blew Maleeva-Fragniere right off the Stadium Court.

WIMBLEDON, England -- Other seeds may have had their problems, but Arantxa Sanchez Vicario was single-minded yesterday, moving smoothly into tomorrow's scheduled women's final with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Meredith McGrath.Just who Sanchez Vicario will play -- if the rains hold off -- is still unknown. The second women's semifinal was called because of darkness last night with No. 1 seed Steffi Graf and No. 12 Kimiko Date deadlocked after two sets.Graf played to form in the opening set, winning easily, 6-2. But in the second, Date came alive, finding all the lines and angles to take it, 6-2."