Seles and Graf ease towards final dream

THE US Open, with its day and night matches, can be a disconcertingly incoherent experience, particularly during the first week. One crowd leaves around tea time the New York night shift, a much more boisterous lot, departs at about the same time that Manhattan's theatres and concert halls are emptying.

Television, of course, dictates - this pattern, and the plums are picked off to boost the evening ratings. Consequently the morning and afternoon games are played in front of thin crowds who veer towards the polite rather than the loudmouthed.

America, and the Big Apply in particular, is constantly searching for the new or, failing that, the very best. The botched up draw, and the manipulation of the seeding, was a fairly transparent attempt to make sure Peter Sampras and Andre Agassi did not meet each other before the semi finals.

Last year's US Open climax was perfect for public and television - Agassi played Sampras and Steffi Graf met Monica Seles. And the Americans sincerely hope for a repeat this time.

That women's final was a classic and there appeared every prospect that Graf and Seles would slug it out at the top again throughout the year. But it has not worked out that way. Far from it.

Graf, recovering from a foot operation, missed the Australian Open which Seles duly won. Then the Yugoslav born American began to have trouble with her shoulder, and still faces a probable operation once these championships and the Fed Cup final are over.

There is no doubt that the women's game has suffered in consequence. There is much to admire about Arantxa Sanchez Vicario but nobody here much wants to see her play yet another final against Graf - and lose it, as she has at Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year.

Graf and Seles have met only 11 times and only once since April 30th, 1993 when Seles was stabbed, an horrific incident which put her out of the game for more than two years.

By sharp comparison Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert met each other 80 times, a rivalry which captured the public imagination, particularly in America, for well over a decade.

So far the possibility of a another Seles Graf final at Flushing Meadow is going according to script. In fact Seles could hardly have had matters more easy.

The other seeds in her quarter of the draw, Magdalena Maleeva, kimiko Date, and Anke Hube have all been knocked out and her scheduled second round night match against Laurence Courtois was called off when the Belgian pulled but injured.

The latest Nike ad sees Seles skimming through the streets of London in a silver E-type pursued by a group of villains firing tennis balls at her which she smashes back with interest. But real life as been far from such an ad man's dream this year - Seles being more Olive Oil than Monika Bond.

Graf, having played her opening match under lights, was out in the mid day sun yesterday against Karin Kschwendt of Switzerland - a second round match which Graf rushed through at an enormous rates of knots, 6-2, 6-1.

Conchita Martinez, who may meet Seles in the semi finals, had few problems either in her own second round match, defeating Nathalie Tauziat 6-1, 6-3.

There was another excellent performance yesterday by the 15 year old Russian Anna Kournikova, playing her first ever Grand Slam. She defeated Natalia Baudone of Belgium, nine years her senior, 6-3, 6-3, to reach the third round.

Germany's Michael Stich, the beaten finalist at this year's French Open went out in straight sets to Spain's Sergi Bruguera, the victor at Roland Garros in 1993 and 1994, and recent silver medal winner at the Atlanta Olympics. "What happened?" Stich was asked. "Nothing," he replied, which precisely summed up a very poor performance.