TENNIS SAN DIEGO TOURNAMENT : Graf Wastes No Time While Defeating Tauziat

SAN DIEGO —  Fans have become so accustomed to watching Steffi Graf beat opponents quickly, it is no longer a game of inches. Instead, it is a game of minutes and seconds.

Graf’s 6-3, 6-2 victory over France’s Nathalie Tauziat Friday in the quarterfinals of the $225,000 Great American Bank Tennis Tournament took only 54 minutes. But it seemed, by standards the world’s No. 1 women’s player has unintentionally set, to last a lifetime.

In Graf’s first two matches here, she defeated Stephanie Rehe in 54 minutes and Kathy Rinaldi in 76. While no official records are kept, her 33-minute victory over Kim Kessaris in Mahwah, N.J., in 1988, is thought to be a record.

But all week, players have been saying that Graf, whose three-year anniversary as the world’s No. 1 player is Aug. 16, isn’t as dominant as she once was. They say she’s vulnerable, that since she has been beaten this year, other players are catching on.

One who has discovered this is third-seeded Zina Garrison, who beat Graf, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, this year in the semifinals at Wimbledon.

Garrison played almost perfect tennis against Terry Phelps in the evening match, winning, 6-0, 6-3, before 3,814 and setting up a semifinal showdown against Graf today on center court at 12:30 p.m.

Second-seeded Martina Navratilova injured her calf and withdrew from the tournament earlier in the week, leaving the remaining top-seeded players to meet before the final. Fourth-seeded Manuela Maleeva of Bulgaria will meet Barbara Paulus in the other semifinal tonight at 6:30.

West Germany’s Graf holds a 5-2 edge over Garrison in head-to-head competition, but Garrison won their last meeting at Wimbledon. Last year, in the final of this tournament, Garrison lost to Graf, 6-4, 7-5.

“It’s not going to be anything special because I lost the last time,” Graf said. “I’m going to try hard. It’s not going to be easy, because she has the type of game that doesn’t let me get into a rhythm.”

Said Garrison, when asked if Graf would be looking to avenge her Wimbledon loss: “I don’t know about revenge. It was really tough when I played her last year. She knows I’m out there, she knows what I’m about, she knows I’m going to be tough.”

Against Tauziat, Graf said she settled down more in the second set and played better than in the first, when she let Tauziat break her serve and then hold to close the score to 4-3.

“Overall it was a good match,” Graf said, “especially in the second set. I think I was playing sharp.”

Graf used a new racket and tried a new topspin backhand she has been practicing.

“It (the racket) was very tight,” she said. “I tried not to go for every shot, to be a little more patient. I told myself to be a little more cautious, a little more relaxed.”

Graf hit one topspin backhand, and it sailed far over the baseline.

“So I didn’t try it for a while,” she said. “I tried it again, but it’s not yet the backhand I want it to be.”

Tauziat said her level of play wasn’t so far behind Graf’s, that she made too many mistakes.

“The difference between her and me is not so much talent,” she said. “It’s close. The difference, it’s more in my mistakes.”

Tennis Notes

Two-time U.S. Open winner Tracy Austin, who has been an on-again, off-again tour player since 1983 because of neck and back injuries, arrived here Friday to do commentary for Prime Ticket today and Sunday.