Krajicek Victory Far From Routine : Tennis: Despite arm injury, he comes from behind in third set and defeats Woodforde for championship.

And what did you do this week, Richard Krajicek?

Let’s see, you twisted your ankle, overdosed on room service, ate 40 pieces of sushi in one sitting, hurt your arm lifting weights in bed watching TV, nearly unhinged your shoulder flattening tennis balls with your King Kong serve, went through 23 rackets and wound up winning the second tournament of your career.

So, all in all, what kind of week was it?

“Just another day at the office,” said Krajicek, the 6-foot-4 serving machine from the Netherlands.

Krajicek earned $33,800 Sunday in a semi-rousing Volvo/Los Angeles final when he came from 0-3 down in the third set to defeat Mark Woodforde, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

It was not exactly a routine match, which should come as no surprise after the unusual week Krajicek spent on his first trip to Los Angeles. As an added attraction, he managed to defeat Woodforde despite a mysterious ailment that left Krajicek’s right forearm “paralyzed” between points.

Krajicek couldn’t explain what happened to his arm and also had a difficult time explaining exactly where it hurt.

“A muscle, no, tendon, or nerve, it was really annoying,” he said. “It felt paralyzed. It was not a nice feeling.”

As for Woodforde, he felt sick to his stomach early in the third set. He had taken control of the match, a period that coincided with Krajicek’s arm problem, and was clinging to a 3-1 lead.

Then something made him ill. It was the sight, high overhead, of a tennis ball, which Krajicek had sent airborne by hitting it off the frame of his racket.

As Woodforde watched in horror, the ball bounced four inches inside the baseline. Anyone looking for bad signs, this was a killer.

“He couldn’t make that shot again if he had a thousand tries at it,” Woodforde said. “I was saying, ‘Geez, how lucky?’ ”

Krajicek gratefully accepted his good fortune and was soon back on track for his second ATP Tour victory to go along with the title he won at Hong Kong 16 months ago.

Krajicek had only six aces, got in only 57% of his first serves and had four double faults, but he had enough to trouble Woodforde.

“I could see it was slowing down,” Woodforde said. “He may have served 10 miles an hour less, but that’s still 100 miles an hour. That’s still tough to return.”

Krajicek broke Woodforde in that floating-ball game and held for 3-3 despite two double faults. He saved a break point and held for 4-4, then broke Woodforde with a forehand passing shot in the corner for 5-4.

All that was left was for Krajicek to serve out the match, which he did, but in keeping with theme week, not without a story. He had promised not to hit the ball a ton on his serve to save his shoulder, but at match point, he forgot.

He unloaded a 120-m.p.h. first serve that ended up in the net and wound up double-faulting. Woodforde even held two break points but missed them and Krajicek finished with a flourish--back-to-back service winners clocked at 118 m.p.h. and 117 m.p.h.

With the trophy in the air, Krajicek was still thinking about his serve, the story of the match and the story of the week.

“That’s the most positive thing you can say--even with lesser serve, I still won the match,” he said. “I was a little afraid, of course, but the last game, I didn’t care anymore.”

Tennis Notes

Jim Pugh and Pat Galbraith won the doubles title with a 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-5) victory over Francisco Montana and David Wheaton. . . . Attendance Sunday was 7,712 to bring the weeklong total to 77,151, short of last year’s record of 78,696. . . . Krajicek moved from No. 15 to No. 14 in the rankings, replacing Aaron Krickstein.