bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

It was the first time the pair had met on the courts.

 Young pretender Serena Williams against old-hand Steffi Graf. Raw and unadulterated power versus craft and skill. Impatient youth against a veteran of a hundred battles. In the end, experience prevailed.

 Graf playing her first match of the year, defeated the younger of the Williams sisters 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) at Victoria Park last night to enter the final of the Super-Power Challenge Cup today.

 Her opponent will be Venus Williams who beat rising Russian star Anna Kournikova 6-4, 6-3 in the other semi-final last night.

 Yesterday's meeting between Graf and Serena Williams had the label 'exhibition' tagged on it. But who was kidding whom? Both players seemed intent on winning at all costs.

 Graf, who was hoping to kick-start her 1999 season and move up the WTA rankings where she is presently languishing in the unlikely position of ninth (due to an injury-plagued 1998), is seeking to tuck this 'exhibition' event under her belt before she leaves for Melbourne to take part in the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year, later this month.

 Graf, who is a winner of 21 Grand Slams, admits that the teenage brigade has injected a breath of fresh air into women's tennis today, which she says as a whole is more open and competitive than ever before.

 One look at last year's Grand Slam honours list, in which no one person dominated, justifies her views.

 Martina Hingis won the Australian Open; Aranxta Sanchez Vicario the French Open; Jana Novotna took Wimbledon, while Lindsay Davenport grabbed the US Open.

 Graf never came into picture simply because she had undergone major knee surgery. A wrist injury also put her out of the game for the major part of last year. But the 29-year-old German, who reigned at the top of the world for 377 consecutive weeks in her heyday, is on the comeback trail.

 Not only will she have to overcome the numerous champions of last year, but also a bevy of young stars led by the Williams sisters and Anna Kournikova. There are plenty of faces around.

 Quantity maybe, but what about quality?  'There are a lot of players out there who are physically stronger. There used to be only a few around in the past. But in terms of quality, I don't think there is much of a change,' said Graf.

 Is that a douse of cold water on the aspirations and hopes of the hungry pack? Or it could be Graf's way of telling the young pretenders that they have a long way to go before they can think of seriously staking a challenge.

 In this context, even exhibition events like this tournament take on a veneer of seriousness. The Glam Set are looking to win every time they go out. Graf will be wanting to teach them a lesson. It was psychological warfare out there yesterday.

 No wonder that Graf took it upon herself to dispute a number of poor line calls last night. No wonder that Serena Williams punched air every time she won a closely contested point. Both players were giving it their best shot.

 Graf won the first set in just 23 minutes and it looked as if the match would be over in double-quick time. But Serena Williams, who is ranked 20th in the world, stepped up the pressure in the second set, capitalising every time Graf faulted on her first serve.

 Stunning returns that complemented a powerful serve allowed Serena to take the second set to the wire. Both players dropped their service once and the set inched into a tie-break where the experience of Graf counted.

 'She has plenty of room for improvement and she will be a threat,' said Graf.

 The other match was played in fits and starts. Venus apologised to the packed Victoria Park stadium afterwards for the standard of the tennis, in which both players struggled to hold their service. There were 14 breaks of serve in the match. It was topsy-turvy.

 In the end, Venus, held on to her nerve, just, converting her fifth match point to win a match that she will want to forget quickly.

 Maybe she will get the opportunity to erase that memory today in the final.

More tennis - Page 19 



Graf's experience sends younger Williams packing