Injured, and ill because of the heat, top-seeded Graf falls to Coetzer in 4th round
By Steve Wilstein, Associated Press
January 20, 1997
MELBOURNE, Australia -- Pete Sampras summoned all his survival instincts today in a five-set scorcher at the Australian Open to outlast a teen-ager he'd never met but is unlikely to forget.
Dominik Hrbaty, a 19-year-old whose last name means "Hunchback" in Slovakian, drilled 20 aces past a sagging Sampras and held a 4-2 lead in the fifth set but could not quite put away the No. 1 player.
On a day when court temperatures again soared past 120 degrees, Sampras secured the 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 fourth-round victory in just under three hours in part because Hrbaty self-destructed under pressure -- double-faulting three times in his last two service games.
But Sampras also won because he played smart tennis under brutal conditions, taking a lesson from his exhausting victory over Alex Corretja at the U.S. Open last year when Sampras suffered heat stroke and vomited.
This time, a day after No. 1 Steffi Graf was upset in the same sizzling heat, Sampras kept the rallies short throughout the match, not trying to run down every ball. Rather, Sampras relied on his serve -- he had 17 aces -- and went for winners. In the fifth set, Sampras took the pace off returns, slicing back shots, saving himself and letting Hrbaty try to power the ball back. When Sampras had the opportunity, he put the ball away.
Hrbaty, the youngest player in the top 100 at No. 76, showed he has all the skills to develop into a top 10 player. Though not as powerful as the 19-year-old who beat Sampras at the Australian last year, Mark Philippoussis, Hrbaty has a much more developed all-around game.
The players hid in the shade as much as possible during the match and were helped on changeovers by electric fans in front of their umbrella-covered chairs. Sampras frequently wrapped his head and shoulders with an ice-water soaked towel.
On Sunday, Graf -- her head throbbing in dangerous 120-degree heat, the nail gone on her infected big toe and her body feverish -- discovered at last the limit of her tolerance for pain.
Ice packs during the match didn't help, nor did retreats to the shade. She dizzily watched lobs disappear into the blazing sun and whacked overheads into the net.
Finally, the pain and heat were too much to bear and Graf's record 45-match winning streak in majors ended, 6-2, 7-5, in the fourth round against indefatigable Amanda Coetzer, who grew up playing in a South African desert.
Graf gingerly but quickly fled the court a moment after her last backhand floated long. No matter how much she's been hurt in the past, she always stopped to pick up her rackets and pack her bag. This time she left them behind.
Two hours later, after rehydration and treatment for the toe on her right foot, Graf departed the National Tennis Center to recover in her room and reflect on only her second loss before the quarterfinals of a major in 12 years.
"She played really well today," Graf said in a statement. "I tried everything I could. I tried as hard as I could. I just didn't have the energy with the heat. But give her the credit. She handled the conditions really well."
No. 3 Goran Ivanisevic also toiled for three hours before beating Christian Ruud, 4-6, 6-2, 6-7 (7-9), 6-3, 6-3. Ivanisevic trailed 0-40 on his serve at 3-3 in the final set, but slammed four aces and a service winner to go ahead 4-3, then went on to break Ruud and close out the match.
The start of a women's singles match was delayed 30 minutes while the players argued for a 10-minute break if their fourth-round matches were to extend beyond two sets in the extreme heat.
The match between eighth-seeded Irina Spirlea of Romania and ninth-seeded Karina Habsudova of Slovakia was held up while organizers considered the appeal.
WTA Tour Players Association vice-president Katrina Adams led the delegation, whose request was denied.
The rule allowing a 10-minute break in extreme weather conditions and/or a delay in the starting time is in force on the WTA Tour, but the Australian Open comes under the jurisdiction of the International Tennis Federation.