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Garrison Hoping to Slow Graf More in Semifinal Today

TIMES STAFF WRITER

All that’s missing are the stopwatches. People not only watch Steffi Graf play tennis, they time her.

Fans have become so accustomed to the world’s No. 1 player eliminating opponents quickly that it is no longer a game of inches. Instead, it is one of minutes and seconds.

Graf’s 6-3, 6-2 victory over France’s Nathalie Tauziat Friday afternoon in a quarterfinal match of the Great American Bank tennis tournament took just 54 minutes but seemed, by standards Graf has unintentionally set, to last a lifetime.

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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--twice in straight sets by Monica Seles--other players are catching on.

Another who has discovered this is third-seeded Zina Garrison, No. 5 in the world. Garrison, 26, beat Graf, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, this year in the semifinals at Wimbledon. She played picture-perfect tennis against New York’s Terry Phelps in the evening match, winning, 6-0, 6-3, in front of 3,814 and setting up a semifinal showdown against Graf today on center court at 12:30.

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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-Fragniere, who now lives in Switzerland, will meet Barbara Paulus in the other semifinal tonight at 6:30.

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

Both players downplayed the importance of today’s rematch.

“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.”

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Said Garrison, when asked if Graf would be looking to avenge her loss in England: “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 know 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 out a new top-spin 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 agreed. She said it would take more than a new backhand for Graf to regain her stronghold on women’s tennis.

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“That will not do it,” Tauziat said. “It takes two or more years to perfect a shot like that.”

Tauziat said her level of play wasn’t so far behind Graf’s, that she just 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.”

Garrison didn’t make many against Phelps. She stormed through the first set and never trailed in the second.

In fact, when Phelps broke Garrison to close to 2-1 in the second set, the nighttime crowd of 3,418 almost gave her a standing ovation.

“I was so nervous,” Phelps said. “I don’t know why I was pushing everything. It was terrible. I was not very good. I feel sorry for the people watching.”

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Phelps is ranked 97th in the world. Her highest was in 1986, when she was No. 20.

“She didn’t play that well,” Garrison said, “but I played real well. I didn’t miss much in the first sets, although I did make some mistakes in the second.”

Phelps said she is picking Graf to win tonight.

“I think Steffi (will win),” she said. “She may want some revenge, and I didn’t really prepare Zina very well. I didn’t give her much of a workout.”

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 in San Diego Friday to do commentary for Prime Ticket today and Sunday. . . . No News is Good News: Said one woman to a group of other women watching Friday’s matches: “I tape my matches and watch them at night instead of the news. The news these days is so depressing.”

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