Sabatini Sabotages Self

Near the end, pacing behind the baseline, Gabriela Sabatini actually put her hand to her throat.

In a collapse almost identical to her 1993 French Open failure, Sabatini blew a 6-1, 5-1 lead, double-faulted 18 times, squandered three match points and lost to Kimiko Date in the Lipton Championships semifinals.

Date rallied to win 1-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4). She’ll play for the title against Steffi Graf, a 6-2, 7-5 winner over Jana Novotna.

In the men’s quarterfinals, unseeded Swede Jonas Bjorkman beat Mats Wilander 6-2, 1-6, 7-5. Wilander blew a 5-2 lead in the third set.

Andre Agassi plays Magnus Larsson in the semifinals today; Bjorkman will meet Pete Sampras. Sampras shook off a code violation for arguing a call and rallied past Andrei Medvedev 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4.