TENNIS;Graf Wins Wrenching French Epic

From ferocious to fragile and back again, Steffi Graf, the defending champion of the French Open, retained her title today in a 3-hour-3-minute epic confrontation with fourth-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain.

Graf's 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 10-8 victory, the longest women's final ever at Roland Garros, reduced Sanchez Vicario to tears of exhaustion and Graf to tears of joy, and delivered the resolute German her 19th Grand Slam singles title. The dramatic victory moved her into a tie with Helen Wills Moody for second place in her sport's most prestigious record book behind the Australian Margaret Court and her 24 titles.

I think it's incredible, but I'm so happy that I won this match today that I can't focus on that record right now," Graf said. Now a five-time champion at the French Open -- the Grand Slam event played on her least favorite surface, red clay -- Graf improved her record in Grand Slam finales to 19-8. But this one she deemed "spectacular."

"It was such a big joy," said the top-ranked Graf, "that sometimes when I was standing out there at 7-6 or 8-7, I don't remember when it was, I almost didn't know what to do, because I wanted to laugh, it felt so special. And I don't usually laugh."

She hadn't felt like laughing at the start of the final set.

Graf had come undone in the second set's tie breaker, in which she took a 4-1 lead and then didn't win another point, and Sanchez Vicario took the initiative in the third set. Twice, the Spaniard served for the match, in the 10th and 14th games.

"I came so close," said Sanchez Vicario, a two-time champion here.

But Graf finally endured in their aceless final by breaking Sanchez Vicario in the 18th game of the third set. At deuce, a backhand blooped out of bounds by the fatigued Spaniard gave Graf the first and only match point of the duel, and Graf earned her victory when the loser pushed another weary backhand into the net.

"They had to come sometime," Graf said of Sanchez Vicario's three errors in the final game. "Today, at the end, I was thinking, 'She has to get tired, she has to get tired.' The way she fought, if I would have to run the lengths she did, I probably would have been gone at the end."

After hoisting her silver trophy, Graf stumbled through a speech in French, which she learned for the occasion but which deserted her when the occasion finally arrived. She then promised the downcast Sanchez Vicario that her turn would come. Besides thanking her usual entourage, Graf also thanked her father, Peter, who has been incarcerated in Germany since last August on tax evasion charges.

Graf, who tends to be impervious to her surroundings once a match starts, also took special care to thank the fans for supporting her after her second-set collapse in the tie breaker. "At the beginning of the third set, I felt pretty down because I knew I'd kind of let it slip away," Graf said, "it was really difficult to motivate myself, and the crowd kind of helped me get a bit of life in myself."

Coming into this match, the 15th straight time they have met in a final and the fourth straight time they have met in a Grand Slam final, Graf appeared to have a clear edge. She led their overall rivalry by 26-8, and in finals, the German had dominated, 17-6 on all surfaces, 7-3 on clay. Against all opponents in Grand Slam finals, Graf led, 18-8, while Sanchez Vicario trailed, 3-6, with two of her victories at Graf's expense.

Sanchez Vicario was just 17 when she stunned Graf here in three sets in the 1989 final, and at the 1994 United States Open, the Spaniard captured her third Slam title with a 1-6, 7-6 (3-7), 6-4 comeback against Graf. As today's match entered a third set, Sanchez Vicario seemed to be using these matches as inspiration.

In the end, though, Graf took a page from last year's scintillating Wimbledon final between the two that included a seesaw 32-point game late in the third set of what turned out to be a memorable Graf victory. Today's epic was a battle of wills -- Graf's unyielding, Sanchez Vicario's unflagging. It was also a battle between the risky, sideline-skimming style of the powerful Graf and the run-around, run-them-down tenacity of the clever Sanchez Vicario.

"It was very emotional, all the tension and all the nerves," said Sanchez Vicario. "As a matter of fact, we both played our best, but at the end, she pulled away."

The durable Spaniard, whose career has hinged on her refusal to become discouraged when she has been outplayed, sneaked back into the thick of things.

Sanchez Vicario saved two break points in the first game of the second set, and when Graf gave her an opening in the fourth game, she seized it. A blistering down-the-line backhand from Sanchez Vicario set up a break point, and Graf put herself into 1-3 arrears with a backhand wide.

Just as it had in the first set, the first break in the second set commenced a trend of surrendered service games. The ever-resourceful Sanchez Vicario was able to save three break points in the fifth game, but she couldn't get a racquet on the cross-court forehand laser Graf used to break back for 3-2. Then, after shallow deliveries cost Graf her serve again, she used another untouchable cross-court forehand to break back for 4-3.

With her every exhalation a purposeful hiss, Graf climbed back and held serve for 4-4. Then each player continued to hold serve to take matters to a tie breaker.

After a stream of Sanchez Vicario errors staked Graf to a 4-1 lead, the German self-destructed. She failed to close out a tidy, straight-set victory; instead, she invited her opponent back into contention.

After Sanchez Vicario won the tie breaker's sixth point with a down-the-line forehand, Graf sprayed four consecutive errors from the backcourt. Her free fall gave Sanchez Vicario a set point at 6-4, and Graf literally handed the tie breaker, and the set, to the Spaniard by pumping out her third double fault.

Sanchez Vicario stepped up her pace, and her harassment of Graf's backhand slice, and broke for a 3-2 lead in the final set when a shaky Graf sent a forehand wide. The Spaniard held for 4-2, and was serving for the match at 5-4 when Graf put her ground strokes back on target and broke for 5-5. Undaunted, Sanchez Vicario broke Graf in the 13th game for a 7-6 lead and a second opportunity to pull off the comeback, but Graf broke serve at love for 7-7.

As always, the two players presented a study in contrast, whether the subject was their body type, the personality they projected or their shot selection and strategy. The silent, sinewy Graf, with her sculpted legs and ferocious forehand winners, kept her face a mask. The stocky Spaniard huffed and puffed like a little freight train, groaning with every shot. But she confined her hustle to her manner, not her play-making: Unlike Graf, Sanchez Vicario has never been one to rush a point -- or a match -- to a hasty conclusion.

That affinity for the long haul was what changed this match from a routine victory for Graf to an epochal three-hour ordeal that showcased two champions at their finest.

"These kinds of matches give you such satisfaction and emotions I know I'll never have after my tennis career," said the 26-year-old Graf, who intends to retire at 30. "I don't think they're going to make me play longer, but they kind of tell me the reason why I'm still there."

MATCH POINTS

In an all-European men's final between a pair of all-court artisans on Sunday, 15th-seeded MICHAEL STICH of Germany, rejuvenated by ankle surgery and eager to earn a Grand Slam companion piece for his 1991 Wimbledon trophy, faces sixth-seeded YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV of Russia. Kafelnikov, who hasn't been to a Grand Slam final but leads his personal rivalry with Stich, 6-3, defeated top-seeded PETE SAMPRAS in straight sets in the semifinal round and today won the men's doubles title with DANIEL VACEK, 6-2, 6-3, over GUY FORGET and JAKOB HLASEK. Stich's most telling match en route to his third career Grand Slam final was his methodical demotion of THOMAS MUSTER, the French Open's defending champion, in the quarterfinal round. . . . In the mixed doubles final, PATRICIA TARABINI and JAVIER FRANA defeated NICOLE ARENDT and LUKE JENSEN, 6-2, 6-2.