ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, August 28, 1996 TAG: 9608280047
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: Associated Press
Stefan Edberg's diving return winner on the first point offered a clue that his final appearance in a Grand Slam tournament would be something special.
A classic backhand volley that left Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek looking helpless moments later offered more evidence.
By the time Edberg finished his vintage victory, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, Tuesday in the first round of the U.S. Open, he had convinced everyone by unleashing all the beautiful shots in his repertoire, from high-kicking serves to the most elegant volleys in tennis.
It was a poignant performance amid a parade of champions - Pete Sampras, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario - and the unsuccessful, though not unhappy, return of Jennifer Capriati.
The 30-year-old Edberg, playing in a record 54th straight and final Grand Slam event, covered the court as lightly and quickly as he did when he won his second consecutive U.S. Open in 1992. That year, Edberg was seeded No.2 and had to come back from a service break down in the fifth set in a fourth-round match against Krajicek that lasted nearly 4 1/2 hours.
This time, Edberg came in unseeded, ranked No.28, and Krajicek was the No.5 seed after winning his first major title at Wimbledon. But from the first point, when Edberg's desperate stab at a good serve by Krajicek flew past the Dutchman, the players and the crowd sensed that the quiet, highly regarded Swede, garbed unassumingly in all white, might be around a while longer.
The crowd gave Edberg a warm greeting and cheered him like a native son throughout the match as he turned Krajicek's power to an advantage with stinging returns and volleys.
Edberg, never broken, served only one ace, and that came near the end when he closed out his last service game against the already demoralized Krajicek. But Edberg didn't need to rack up the ace total as long as his kicking serve into Krajicek's body proved so effective.
Krajicek's 13 aces didn't mean much either, especially since he made only 53 percent of his first serves. Edberg sneaked in enough surprising returns to break him twice in the first set, once in the second, and twice in the third set, the last on a double fault on match point.
``I really got off to a good start,'' Edberg said. ``I felt very relaxed being out there. There's no question about it that Richard was very much off his game today. I took advantage of that. He went pretty quick out there, quicker than I expected.
``It is my last Grand Slam, and each match is a great win, but obviously beating Richard means more than beating a lot of the other players.''
Krajicek, treated for a nose bleed in the second set, seemed distracted throughout the match. Jets roaring overhead, fans moving during points, linesmen making a few questionable calls - all conspired to throw him off.
``I played against an opponent who was much more aggressive than I was. That's the bottom line,'' Krajicek said. ``I was moving very bad. My head was not telling my legs to move. That was the problem. I was very lazy through my volleys. You could really see that he wanted it more badly than I did.
``That's the mark of a real champion. After 15 years on the tour, he's still got the aggressiveness and the desire to win every match.''
Nervousness wasn't a problem.
``No chance to be nervous if you get killed like that,'' Krajicek said. ``There was no room for nervousness. It was not really a contest today.''
Krajicek's loss means no man will win two majors this year. Australian winner Boris Becker is out with an injury, and French champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov is sitting out in protest of his No.7 seeding.
Edberg, enjoying the moment, recalled that he played the best match of his life on the same stadium court when he beat Jim Courier in the 1991 final.
``It's a special court,'' Edberg said, adding that it's also the perfect place to say goodbye to tennis.
``I don't really want to hang around playing tennis out there if I can't perform the way that I want to perform. I haven't performed over the last year and a half. I want to be in the top 10 and really have a chance of winning a Grand Slam. Those years are pretty much over next year. Once you go past 30, 31, 32, the chances of your winning a Grand Slam is so little.''
While Edberg staved off retirement for another day, the other top men had little trouble advancing. Sampras, the defending champ and No.1 seed, romped in straight sets over a lucky loser, Jim Szymanski of Venezuela. Thomas Muster, No. 3, beat Argentina's Javier Frana in straight sets. No. 10 Marcelo Rios of Chile needed four sets to beat Romanian Andrei Pavel.
Spain's Alberto Costa, No.14, lost in five sets to Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic.
Graf, the defending women's champion and top seed, faced a 1-4 deficit in the second-set tiebreaker, then reeled off six straight points to beat a surprisingly tenacious Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).
Seles, the women's runner-up last year and No. 2 seed again, trounced Anne Miller 6-0, 6-1 despite a sore shoulder.
Sanchez Vicario, No.3, also romped in straight sets, as did No. 7 Jana Novotna, No. 8 Lindsay Davenport and No. 17 Karina Habsudova.
Capriati, a semifinalist in 1991, returned for the first time since a first-round exit in 1993. She left the same way this time, falling 6-4, 6-4 to Annabel Ellwood of Australia.
``It was great when I was out there. Just the whole energy, the crowd, felt really great,'' Capriati said. ``It was like, `Yeah, you know, this is what I miss.' I miss the competitiveness. Even though my shots were off, I still felt solid. This is what I want to be doing right now. I'm just getting back to the game I love.''
LENGTH: Long : 105 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. 1. Sweden's Stefan Edberg whips a backhand inby CNBupsetting Richard Krajicek 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in a first-round U.S. Open
match. color. 2. Germany's Steffi Graf smacks a return in her 6-3,
7-6 (7-4) triumph over Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia on Tuesday. KEYWORDS: TENNIS