All singing, all dancing, all conquering Alexandra Stevenson twinkled into the Wimbledon semi-finals yesterday with flapping wrists and 100-watt smile, the first time a qualifier has ever gotten so far in the women's competition.
In the wake of the virtually unknown American amateur dramatist lay the 16-year-old Australian Jelena Dokic, the girl who put out top seed Martina Hingis in the first round and spawned a thousand armchair psychiatric reports on the mind condition of the world number one.
While there was round support for the young scrapper Dokic, it was hard to drum up the usual young girl/old girl divisions around the outside court, since the combined age of the pair barely reached 34.
The unseeded 18-year-old Stevenson now faces Lindsay Davenport in today's semi-final, the final having been moved to tomorrow with the men's event.
It is the first time the Wimbledon organisers have had to schedule a Sunday double-header in 10 years.
Stevenson, who this week dismissed the allegations of racist abuse on the women's tour as "faux pas", although apparently meaning "passe," flashed her fantastic teeth and maintained her relentless cheeriness, as much now a signature as her heavy serve and scorching ground shots.
Her favourite stroke, based on that of Pete Sampras, is the forehand whipped deep to the back of the court, but both barrels are high calibre and Dokic, after a motivated rally in the second set, could offer little in reply. Finally she had come to the bottom of the well.
"At 5-2 I just hit the ball as hard as I could hoping it would go in," said Stevenson. "I knew I'd to come up tough today because she was ready to roll. But I knew I was stronger and had a few more weapons. The rain delay didn't really have an effect. I just waited and snacked, waited and snacked, came out in the morning and played."
The match overnighted because of the rain, with Dokic a set down and 5-1 up in the second having broken Stevenson twice. The 16-year-old then closed out the set 6-1 to force a third.
But Stevenson again found her serving rhythm where Dokic lost hers. They exchanged breaks in the second and third games before Stevenson critically broke again in the sixth and held the set 6-3.
Today's semi-final against Davenport will be as close as you can get to two big hitters who, although loath to admit it, don't like grass. Both are over six feet and both have a weakness in their ability to move around court. The 23-year-old Davenport, who yesterday sensibly pulled out of the mixed doubles to conserve energy, is expected to prevail, having the physical edge as well as the experience of a US Open title last year.
The other young semi-finalist Mirjana Lucic, who faces Steffi Graf, is - like Stevenson - able to walk through the crowds here virtually unrecognised. The 17-year-old defeated last year's semi-finalist Nathalie Tauzait in three sets 4-6, 64, 7-5.
Lucic, who has just come back from a difficult two years during which she fled Croatia before suffering elbow and shoulder injuries after last year's US Open, again had to play the match over two days.
It was the uninhibited drives on the fast dry surface from Lucic that had Tauzait planted to the back of the court for most of the final set.
Tauzait firstly broke to take what looked like an insurmountable 5-3 lead. Lucic then held for 4-5 before breaking the French girl for 5-5, held service and broke again, Tauzait hitting a forehand nervously into the net for the final point.
"It was really hard. I warmed up 10 times and was on and off the court. It was hard to concentrate on the match, relax and go on again. But this is definitely the biggest win of my career so far," said Lucic.
"Beating Monica (Seles) was definitely big, but I would say today is bigger because it was the first time I was playing in the quarter-finals. It was not just about tennis, but a very mental game. I've played Steffi two times, I lost both times but I'm ready for it," she said.
