Teenage Sensation Gets Lesson From Graf

Her racket rattled against the back wall of the court, slammed there in frustration and anger by Martina Hingis, who learned a lesson in tennis grit from Steffi Graf in the semifinals of the U.S. Open.

In her first Grand Slam semifinal, Hingis ran into the ultimate tennis truth Saturday: Steffi Graf does not give up games or sets easily.

The lesson was the turning point in Graf’s 7-5, 6-3 victory over the 15-year-old, in a match that began Friday night and was delayed by rain until Saturday.

The match had begun promisingly for Hingis. Down 0-40 as she served the first game, she came back and won the game. It seemed like something on which to build when they returned Saturday.

“I just wanted to play everything back, like I did yesterday,” Hingis said. And for a while, she did.

Hingis led 5-3 and was serving for the first set. The youngster had set point and Graf escaped. Now, with Graf serving, Hingis took a 40-0 lead - three set points. Again, Graf survived the crisis, battling back point-by-point, refusing to yield and finally forcing the game to deuce. Hingis knew then what was happening. “At 40-30, it was a very long point,” she said. “And after that, I was almost dead.”

Moved from one side of the court to the other by Graf, with excess mileage already accumulated from a grueling schedule of women’s doubles and mixed doubles play along with her singles, Hingis began to run out of steam.