Croft Pulls Off Big Upset

SAN DIEGO —  It was 11:30 Sunday night at Farnborough, Kent, 15 miles southeast of London, when the phone rang in the Croft house.

Susan Croft quickly picked up the receiver in the first floor hall of their three-story, white doll house. As soon as she heard her daughter Annabel’s excited voice, she yelled out, “I can believe it.”

Her father, James, not any less confident in the ability of his 18-year old daughter but a little more startled, shouted, “I can’t believe it.”

Neither could Annabel Croft, who had just stunned top-seeded Wendy Turnbull, 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) to win the Virginia Slims of San Diego tennis tournament.

Croft, who entered the week ranked 83rd in the world, earned $12,000 for her first professional victory.

After winning six straight points to take the second set tiebreaker, 7-5, and thus winning the match, a shocked Croft ran to call her parents from a phone in the clubhouse at the San Diego Hilton Beach and Tennis Resort.

While the Croft’s were talking on the phone, journalists on Fleet Street in London were eagerly awaiting news of how their latest “dolly” did.

Since “Ginny” (Virginia Wade) captured the woman’s singles title at Wimbledon in 1977, the English have searching for a young tennis player to once again come to the forefront.

Sue Barker never lived up to the expectations of the British press, and Jo Durie, England’s top-ranked player, has not been playing well recently.

Enter Croft, a talented player with a lot going for her.

England’s third-ranked player comes from a wealthy tennis-playing family, has a tennis court at her family’s home, financial support from a real estate acquaintance of her father and the support of a nation behind her.

“I got a call in the morning from Malcolm Folley (sportswriter for the London Daily Mail),” Croft said. “He said we’re all behind you, and we really need you.”

The anticipation grew as the London papers continually called the press room throughout the afternoon.

“We’re probably the only paper to get in the result in Monday’s paper,” Folley said. “But tomorrow, every paper in town will want to do an Annabel feature.”

The Daily Mail had extended its deadline to 12:30 a.m. to include results of the World Snooker Championships, which went down to the last ball in the last of 35 frames.

Dennis Taylor of Ireland defeated two-time champion Steve Davis of London to win the championship.

An upset, but nothing compared to what happened across the Atlantic on a sunny and breezy Sunday afternoon at San Diego.

Croft, returning to the center court at the Hilton just 16 hours after beating Melissa Gurney in three sets, completely dominated the seventh-ranked player in the world in the first set.

“I was really nervous at the start,” Croft said. She won the first three points of the match off Turnbull’s serve, and finally got the service break after going to deuce five times.

“Winning that really long game really settled me down,” Croft said. Turnbull agreed that the early part of the match was a big boost to Croft.

“I think the first three games were very important,” Turnbull said. “She hit out and played with a lot of confidence after that.”

By the time Turnbull spoke to the press late Sunday afternoon, her disappointment hadn’t diminished much, even though she had just won the doubles championship with Candy Reynolds (6-4, 6-0 over Rosalyn Fairbank and Susan Leo).

“I had one other day worse than this in singles,” Turnbull said. “And I forgot that one.”

Did Turnbull have an explanation for her subpar performance?

“I didn’t feel I was really psyched up for the match,” Turnbull said. “I was a little tired mentally and physically, and was trying to win the points too quickly.”

Relying on a strong forehand and getting a lot of help from missed approach shots by Turnbull, Croft also broke Turnbull’s serve in the third and fifth games of the first set. She wrapped up the love set in 30 minutes.

When Turnbull held service to win the first game of the second set, much of the crowd of 1,873 fans let out a sarcastic cheer.

“When you’re the top-seeded player with more top-ranked players in the tournament, there is less pressure,” Turnbull said on Saturday.

On Sunday, Turnbull said she was able to get really psyched up to play Betsy Nagelsen and Mary Lou Piatek (quarter-final and semifinal opponents).

The match against Croft, however, was different.

“It’s tough when you don’t know someone to psych yourself up for them,” Turnbull said. “They’ve got nothing to lose.”

The first match ever between Turnbull and Croft was much more competitive in the second set.

After Croft broke Turnbull’s serve to take a 3-2 lead, Croft faced a moment of crisis on her serve.

“I suddenly realized that I was getting closer to winning,” Croft said, “and I went really stiff in my legs. I guess that’s what happens when you lack experience.”

Croft double faulted at game point after leading, 40-15, and it was 3-3.

“Most of the times those things would bother me and cost me matches,” Croft said. Throughout the week, Croft concentrated on staying within herself. Off the court, she saw seven movies to help her relax. On the court, she did a lot of breathing exercises.

Her first moment of truth in this tournament came in her opening round match against Leigh Thompson on Monday. Thompson is ranked number 164 in the world.

Croft lost the first set, 6-4. It appeared that San Diego might be just another disappointing stop on the tour for Croft, who won $29,467 in 18 singles tournaments in 1984 and $4,450 in five tournaments so far this year.

“During the changeover between sets against Thompson,” Croft said, “I was almost in tears. I thought it’s going to be another first-round loss.”

Croft beat Barbara Jordan and sixth-seeded Roz Fairbank in straight sets to reach the semifinals.

She lost the first set to Gurney in Saturday’s semifinal match but recovered for a win that vaulted her into the championship match.

When Turnbull took a 5-3 lead in the second set, it appeared that Croft’s effort on Sunday might still turn out to be a profitable learning experience rather than a victory.

However, Croft broke Turnbull to make it 5-4, and held serve to tie it at 5.

Following two straight service breaks, the players headed into a tiebreaker.

Turnbull raced out to a 5-1 lead in the best-of-12-point tiebreaker.

“At that point,” Croft said, “I tried to just relax and go for it.”

She did. A topspin forehand winner down the line tied it at 5. Turnbull hit Croft’s next serve into the net, and suddenly it was match point.

With Turnbull at the net, Croft hit a topspin forehand that Turnbull elected to let go.

“I could have gotten to it,” Turnbull said, “but I thought it was going long. Then I was hoping it was long. But when it hit, I thought it was good.”

It was good.

Moments later, Susan and James Croft heard all about it.