French Open Tennis : Navratilova, Evert Win and Meet in Semifinals

PARIS — These are tough times for Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. Imagine their confusion. Here they are, playing in a Grand Slam tennis tournament, and when they face each other, it won’t be in the final.

Thursday, they will meet in the semifinals of the French Open, the first time in six years they have played a non-final against each other. Tuesday, they won as they always win against opponents named Claudia Kohde-Kilsch and Raffaella Reggi, Navratilova ousting Kohde-Kilsch, 6-1, 6-2, shortly after Evert had beaten Reggi, 6-2, 6-2.

Tough times, indeed.

“It will feel really strange playing Chris knowing there’s another match for the winner to play,” Navratilova said. “I don’t think we’ve done it more than two or three times in the last 10 years. All the emotions will be the same, though.”

The emotions Tuesday at Stade Roland Garros were difficult for anyone to find. On a day that began cool, turned hot and finished rainy--typical for Paris this time of year--the men’s matches provided little more suspense than the women’s matches. In the mid-day heat, Ivan Lendl, the defending champion, moved into the semifinals with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Andres Gomez.

Lendl’s match, to use his words, was a “carbon copy” of the three previous matches the two men have played here. “It’s the same story,” Lendl said. “We split the first two sets and then he tires out. It’s pretty much a matter of splitting those first two sets for me.”

Gomez, by his admission, isn’t in anywhere near the shape Lendl is. Knowing this, he often slumps noticeably when faced with the prospect of a long match with Lendl.

The other men’s quarterfinal never got past the first set, rain stopping Miloslav Mecir and Karel Novacek with Mecir ahead, 4-2, in the first set. The two players will try to finish today, when more rain is predicted.

The sun stayed out for Evert and Navratilova, but neither had much chance of getting a tan during their brief stays on the court. Evert was first, opening play in front of a nearly empty stadium against a very fired-up Reggi.

“She certainly is hyper at 11 o’clock in the morning,” Evert said of the Italian, who bounces up and down so much a spectator can get dizzy watching. “It took me a while to get loose. Once I did, I felt OK.”

She was a little better than OK.

After losing her serve to open the 71-minute match, she found her rhythm during a seven-deuce third game.

“She missed maybe four shots the whole match,” Reggi said. “People say she’s not as good as she used to be, but she sure looked pretty good to me. I didn’t play so bad. She was just too good.”

Too good is what Evert and Navratilova have been for a lot of years now. It has taken 10 years for Steffi Graf and Gabriela Sabatini to emerge--two players who at least have a chance against the doyens. Even now, however, nothing is certain. Graf and Sabatini will meet in a semifinal match Thursday before their seniors play their match.

“We’ve outlasted a lot of these upstart kids, haven’t we?” Navratilova said, laughing. “It gets harder and harder all the time, though.”

Evert-Navratilova LXXII (their 72nd match, but the Roman numerals somehow seem more appropriate) should be as fascinating as I through LXXI. It won’t be a final, but it will be Evert-Navratilova. It will be special. Again.