EVEN after nearly two weeks here it's difficult to come to grips with the security operation at these championships.

At every turn, before every doorway, there appears to be somebody making sure your pass permits you to advance. Off duty firemen, ambulance crews, the Salvation Army, it seems as though everybody in London with a uniform is giving up their spare time to give a helping hand.

Out on court it's much the same, with each player having to show that they have what's required to get to the next level, although for some progress seems to be pretty much guaranteed.

On Thursday night Steffi Graf the defending champion in the women's singles, briefly appeared to become confused about her route to this afternoon's title decider. But when she came back yesterday morning to play the match's third set, her opponent, Kimiko Date, might as well have been kitted out with dark blue blazer and a peaked cap. "Serving well, forehand back in gear, good speed around the baseline. That's all in order, Ms Graf, you go straight on ahead to the final."

Until she conceded six games in a row to the Japanese number one, everything had been going very smoothly indeed over the past two weeks for the champion. Since the first round of these championships she had looked to be on course to win the 100th title of her career. Then, suddenly, a good lead had been thrown away and Date was the one who looked to have momentum required to carry her through to the final.

However, the delay of the third set to yesterday morning due to poor light was a let off for the 27 year old, who came out looking a lot sharper than she had done in the match's first phase and clearly thrived on the faster, drier surface.

Date, on the other hand, has repeatedly shown herself to be a slow starter over the past week and once again experienced problems with her ignition yesterday. Having come back so strongly from behind to score three consecutive breaks the night before her aggressive counter punching style never emerged fully in yesterday's 27 minutes of play.

Yesterday neither side had conceded more than a point on serve early on but there was still little doubt regarding who was looking the more composed and, when the 25 year old from Kyoto committed three unforced errors in the sixth game, it took just one stunning backhand cross court return of serve to give the champion the break she needed.

There was never any looking back for the German who took the set 6-3. Her reward is a 25th clash with Arantxa Sanchez Vicari in a major championship final. Overall the pair have actually met some 33 times, with the Spaniard having only won eight times and, while the fourth seed has come off the better in three of the last seven confrontations, she has never beaten Graf on grass.

Sanchez Vicario has, nevertheless, shown steady improvement bin her Wimbledon performances, not just this year but since she made a first round exit back in 1987. On five occasions now she has been to the last 16 or beyond, while 12 months ago she lost one of her most closely fought contests with her rival 7-5 in the third set of the final after the pair shad slugged it out for some 20 minutes in the second last game a game that Graf was to subsequently describe as the best of her career.

Since battling back from a set down in the fourth round encounter with Sabine Appelmans, Sanchez Vicario has been telling all and sundry about how well she feels she is playing. But in the first set of that match her play was actually very erratic with, in particular, her baseline shots ending up where they were supposed to about as often as her nation's fishing fleet generally does.

She certainly played well to take the last 10 games of her quarter final against Judith Wiesner. As she steadily grew in confidence, the all round strength of the Spaniard's game was amply demonstrated with a string of fine forehand winners from the baseline complemented nicely by a willingness to advance to the net and volley whenever the chance came her way.

That is the sort of varied game she will have to produce if she is to prevent Graf from winning her seventh title. The number one admits that she too is going to have to be a little more adventurous than usual to overcome the growing challenge of the woman from Barcelona.

"My game tends to be at the back of the court and I will probably need to get forward more to attack in this final," Graf says. "She doesn't give you any easy points and so you really have to play every single one, "which is difficult over two sets."

Two sets? Well, we'll see.

For Sanchez Vicario there will hardly be a better opportunity to take the Wimbledon title. Even if it does not rain, conditions will hardly be ideal. Whatever happens the surface on Centre Court will be damp and quicker than usual.

To capitalise fully on those sort of conditions, the Spaniard will have to get of more of her first serves in than she managed against Meredith McGrath in the semi finals. She may come into the net behind those first serves.

The prospect of a first Wimbledon title is certain to lift her game.

Her cause is helped, too by the fact that her opponent was clearly struggling with a sinus ailment yesterday in addition to the ongoing injury to her knee. Asked if it would affect her performance in the final, though, Graf simply laughed.

Referring to a claim by Martina Navratilova on American television that an earlier mention of the knee injury by the defending champion was just an excuse to fall back on, Graf said. "After Martina's comments, I'm saying nothing."

Once again, then, the German is likely to do her talking out on the court, where it matters.