GRAF, SANCHEZ VICARIO REUNITE : TOP SEED REBOUNDS AGAINST DATE; WASHINGTON, MARTIN SPLIT FOUR.

Byline: Steve Wilstein Associated Press 

Given a reprieve she desperately needed, defending champion Steffi Graf made the most of rare sunshine Friday to reach her eighth final before a deluge turned Wimbledon back into Swimbledon.

Graf, who will play Arantxa Sanchez Vicario again for the title, took only 26 minutes to close out a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Japan's Kimiko Date - 14-1/2 hours after Date swept the last six games of the second set Thursday night.

The women's final will be played today, if weather permits.

So far this week, weather hasn't permitted much. Rain drenched the courts four days and bleak forecasts for the weekend raised the likelihood that the tournament - the wettest Wimbledon since 1991 - will be extended past Sunday for the 14th time.

The men's semifinal between No. 13 Todd Martin and MaliVai Washington was interrupted twice by rain Friday, the second and last time for 4-1/2 hours after the two Americans split the first four sets. Martin won the first set 7-5 and the third 7-6 (8-6) and Washington won the second 4-6 and fourth 6-3.

Longtime friends from Michigan who practice together often, Martin and Washington knew each other's styles well despite meeting only once in a tournament - the 1994 Australian Open quarterfinals that Martin won in straight sets.

They both use two-fisted backhands, a stroke that looks somewhat odd for the 6-foot-6 Martin, one of the tallest players on the tour. They also both play attacking tennis, and this match fluctuated only on small lapses of concentration and occasional slips. Martin has the stronger serve, as he showed with 21 aces, and Washington the quicker legs, with cannonball calves that help him cover the court from corner to corner.

Serving to put the opening set into a tiebreaker, Washington mis-hit a backhand wide on break-point to drop the set 7-5. Washington didn't let that mistake rattle him, and he dealt with a back injury by popping painkillers during the match. He held serve throughout the second set and gained a break in the fifth game when a forehand return hit the netcord and skipped past Martin, who then double faulted.

In the tiebreaker, played through an increasingly heavy shower, Washington came back from a 6-3 deficit to tie it 6-6 when Martin double faulted again. But Martin then cracked an ace and gained the set when Washington tapped a volley into the net.

There was a 32-minute rain interruption before the start of the fourth set. Washington broke Martin in the sixth game with the help of excellent returns on the last two points. Washington was playing the best tennis of the match, frequently embarrassing Martin with subtle touch and decisive volleying.

Washington appeared to have the momentum to reach his first Grand Slam final when the rain suddenly reappeared in the last game of the set, and wiped out the rest of the day.

The other men's semifinal, Richard Krajicek vs. Jason Stoltenberg, never started. It was rescheduled to today and moved from Centre Court to Court 1 at 3 p.m. PDT, the same time as the planned resumption of the Martin-Washington match on Centre Court.

Even if the men's and women's singles titles are decided by Sunday, other events - men's and women's doubles, mixed doubles, juniors and seniors - are almost certain to spill over into next week.

``The way it's looking at the moment, unless miracles happen in the next few days I think we're looking at playing next week,'' referee Alan Mills said. ``Hopefully, not for the championship events, but for the other events, it could very well be.''

Graf, seeking her seventh Wimbledon championship and 100th career title, gratefully accepted the referee's decision to stop her match at 8:57 p.m. Thursday evening despite a brighter sky than has been seen most afternoons.

``It was pretty dark the last two, three games,'' Graf insisted. ``I obviously just wanted to finish the set. I don't think she could have played much better tennis. She played some great shots, very deep and very long and flat. It was very difficult to do something.

``I wonder how much longer she could have kept up with it. The balls were really heavy. All these things were favoring her a little bit.''

The 12th-seeded Date, the first Japanese woman to reach Wimbledon's semifinals, felt she could have won the match if they hadn't stopped at a set apiece.

``I have very good eyesight, and it didn't bother me at all,'' Date said. ``To be honest, I wanted to continue to play until the match finished because I just started getting used to her playing style and also my movement was getting better. If play continued after the second set, I think I could keep up that level.''

Date never quite regained that rhythm when they resumed, and Graf came out as overpowering as usual - starting with an ace on her first serve.

The decisive break against Date came in the sixth game. Graf reached break-point when she angled a backhand sliced return just over the net and out of Date's reach. Date then dropped the game, falling behind 4-2, when she netted a backhand.

Graf served two aces while taking a 5-2 lead, and on the changeover she spryly strode to the baseline looking to put away the match. Date double-faulted right away and faced two match points at 15-40 when a backhand return by Graf clipped the netcord and popped over. Graf hit a forehand long to lose one match point, then Date saved the next when she got a lucky netcord.

Graf didn't waste another opportunity, serving out the match when Date's final forehand sailed wide.

Graf and Sanchez Vicario have waged some epic duels in their previous six Grand Slam finals, with Graf winning four of them.

Two of the best were also the most recent - at Wimbledon last year, when Graf won 4-6, 6-1, 7-5, and at the French Open last month, when Graf again triumphed, 6-3, 6-7 (7-4), 10-8, in the longest women's final in the tournament's history.

WIMBLEDON AT A GLANCE

Weather: Cool with early sunshine giving way to rain in the afternoon. Afternoon temperature reached a high of 64 degrees.

Attendance: 22,081. Last year's 11th day attendance was 22,138.

Results: Women's singles, semifinals: No. 1 Steffi Graf beat No. 12 Kimiko Date in the completion of a suspended match.

Suspended Matches: Men's singles, semifinals: No. 13 Todd Martin is tied at two sets apiece with MaliVai Washington. The match between Richard Krajicek and Jason Stoltenberg was postponed.

Stat of the Day: Graf was able to return 89 percent of Kimiko Date's serves.

Quote of the Day: ``I think the way the last few finals have been going, even if people say it's the same match again, I think there has been some spectacular tennis and definitely no boring finals.'' - Graf, on her rivalry with Sanchez Vicario.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

Photo: (color) MaliVai Washington stretches for a shot against Todd Martin in semifinal, which was suspended by rain.

Associated Press

Box: WIMBLEDON AT A GLANCE (see text)