Relentless Play Wins For Sanchez Vicario
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. - Arantxa Sanchez Vicario raced from one side to the other, covering the court with the precision of a clock. Backhand, forehand, backhand, forehand. Ticktock, ticktock.
It was time for an upset. The relentless Sanchez Vicario defeated top seed Steffi Graf 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in yesterday's final at the Lipton Championships.
In the men's semifinal, No. 2 seed Pete Sampras beat No. 5 Petr Korda 6-3, 2-6, 6-2. Sampras will play in today's final against No. 14 MaliVai Washington, who defeated unseeded South African Marcos Ondruska 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).
Washington earned the last semifinal berth by beating unseeded Patrick McEnroe 6-1, 7-6 (8-6) in a match that ended at 1:09 a.m. yesterday.
Sanchez Vicario, always faster than she looks on those short, thick legs, won her second consecutive Lipton title by repeatedly returning shots beyond the reach of lesser players. In the end, Graf was frustrated, erratic and worn out, the fingers on her racket hand cramping.
"I was much stronger mentally," said Sanchez Vicario, the No. 2 seed.
"With her, you have to place the ball better and better," Graf said. "I started missing easy shots."
By beating Graf for the fourth time in 22 tries, the fourth-ranked Sanchez Vicario earned $135,000 and her first tournament title of the year.
NOTES -- Wild-card entry Youness El Aynaoui of Morocco extended his surprising run and made the finals of the Casablanca Open by upsetting seventh seed Horst Skoff of Austria 7-5, 6-4. In the other semifinal, Guillermo Perez-Roldan of Argentina outlasted Austrian Gilbert Schaller 7-6 (7-5), 0-6, 7-6 (7-5). -- John McEnroe has settled a lawsuit filed against him by a United Airlines employee who said the tennis star caused her to break her finger in a scuffle after she refused to hold a plane for him. Diane Lemke Schwerdtfeger, a United customer service representative, had sought $600,000 in total damages in the suit filed in San Mateo, Calif., County Superior Court, according to published reports.