Zvereva dumps out Graf

Natasha Zvereva's victory over Steffi Graf on Centre Court yesterday should serve as a monument to persistence and a proof of the merits of the adage "if at first you don't succeed try, try and try again". Whoever coined the wise words probably didn't expect his disciples to hang around long enough for an 18th tilt at a single goal.

He would definitely extol the virtues of the 27-year-old Minskborn Belarussian, whose 6-4 7-5 success ended a sequence of 17 successive defeats at the hands of yesterday's opponent.

Zvereva will not care one whit that Graf performed well below par, that the German's tentative and error-ridden performance, undermined by poor mobility and an unusual tightness, rendered Graf a pale imitation of her former breath-taking excellence. Knee and hamstring injuries have curtailed court-time in the last six months and the lack of match hardness was apparent.

Lauded in the past for her athletic ability, Graf was yesterday unable to transport herself into the correct positions to unleash her powerful forehand. Her timing and execution were off kilter. Her nervy, edgy persona was far removed from her days as a ruthless ice maiden.

Mental frailty demanded that she adopt the percentage game, one that is both alien and ultimately self destructive for a woman used to dictating the pace and ebb and flow of rallies. Her sliced backhand lacked length, compounding a tendency to spray her forehand wildly, and a general hesitancy.

Despite Zvereva's lack of success in previous meetings, the woman from Belarus is ranked 22nd in the world, and is a superb doubles exponent (ranked number one). She was therefore eminently capable of capitalising on her opponent's shortcomings. But she has tended to freeze when caught in the glow of a star: on those occasions her resolve may have charitably been described as brittle.

In Graf's case Zvereva's anxiety must have been bordering on pathological fear, given her awful record, the nadir of which was the 6-0 6-0 defeat in the 1988 French Open final, a calamity upon which she was quite happy to reflect after yesterday's momentous victory. "That was my worst defeat, physically. I mean 6-0 6-0 is pretty bad.

"I was so nervous, you couldn't even describe it. I put an extreme amount of pressure on myself, unjustified completely and that's what happened. I beat myself to it before she even did."

Did she have that match on her mind on this occasion? "Today? No. I've played her 18 times, give me a break. I thought `okay should I think about match number five or number nine?' No, 11 was nice. That was a three-setter, it was close, yes."

Having dislodged her tongue from her cheek, Zvereva conceded that she did not know why this match was to have a different outcome to the previous 17. "I don't know. I just went with the flow. I don't particularly have plans for any one match. I thought I concentrated on every point. It never happened before. Everyone was in the locker room laughing at me. They're like, `what happened. What's wrong with you', touching my forehead."

If Zvereva found it difficult to pinpoint the reason for her success, Graf displayed no such bewilderment. "I didn't play my best out there. I started off really nervously, didn't move very well around the court and didn't return well. I haven't been very relaxed the last few days, I've not been feeling very comfortable out there.

"I've been training okay but every time I went out on the court, I start playing nervously in the beginning and I don't feel my rhythm at all. So my problem is pretty clear, it's a lack of match practice." The legacy of defeat manifested itself in the form of a pointed inquiry by the media into what the future held for the 29year-old German but those pursuing a retirement story will have to wait, at least for a while. "I cannot find the confidence out there, as I have played so few tournaments. So I have to stay on track on that. I've got exhibitions in about two weeks and I'll see from then on. I've got San Diego and some other tournaments planned."

On a day disrupted by rain showers, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Lindsay Davenport were both taken to three sets, but unlike the German managed to guarantee places in the next round.

Goran Ivanisevic, twice a beaten finalist, is showing ominous signs for his rivals of putting the "worst six months of my career" behind him. The 14th seed resumed his match against Andrei Medvedev two sets to one ahead and rattled off the next six games with some superlative tennis.

His day was clouded by his beloved Croatia's 1-0 defeat by Argentina in the World Cup and an incident that provoked peals of laughter in the interview room. When one correspondent innocently inquired as to whether past defeats here stuck with Ivanisevic here, the Croatian smiled: "Yesterday killed me.

"During the rain delay they showed the '92 final (he lost in five sets to Andre Agassi). Jesus, I think, man, and I punished myself and watched the whole of the last set. I thought maybe I'm going to win but I didn't. Same result. In fact they just stopped before the two double faults. It was good tennis, we both played good. I was still nervous, I thought maybe I could do something different, but nothing."

Australian heart-throb Pat Rafter, the number six seed, dropped a set against Sweden's Magnus Gustafsson but still managed to look impressive in a four set victory, 6-3 6-7 6-2 6-1. He will meet the winner of the unfinished clash between England's Tim Henman and Zimbabwean Byron Black. The Englishman won the first set just before the rain intervened for a final time.

Despite the interference of the elements on occasions over two days, the programme of matches is on schedule.