Navratilova, Mandlikova Win, Now Play Each Other

Defending champion Martina Navratilova defeated Pam Shriver, and third-seeded Hana Mandlikova beat Zina Garrison Friday night to move into the semifinals of the $500,000 Virginia Slims tennis championships.

Navratilova toppled her doubles partner, 6-2, 6-4, after Mandlikova advanced with a hard-fought 6-3, 6-4 victory.

The winners will meet today after a semifinal match between Czechoslovakia’s Helena Sukova, the No. 5-seeded player, plays 17-year-old Kathy Rinaldi.

Navratilova and Shriver traded service breaks to begin their match, then both held serve to run the score to 2-2. In the next game, Shriver reached ad point on her serve, but Navratilova pulled back to deuce with a reflex forehand passing shot off Shriver’s smash.

“That definitely was the key point of the first set,” Shriver said. “After that, she won four straight games.”

When Navratilova broke Shriver in the fifth game of the second set, that was all it took.

Navratilova and Shriver later teamed to reach the final, routing Rosalyn Fairbank and Candy Reynolds in doubles, 6-0, 6-3. Navratilova and Shriver, who conceded only four points in the first set, have won 89 straight matches.

Mandlikova, who has won two tournaments this year, was in a battle from the opening serve against Garrison, the No. 7-seeded player.

In the third game of the first set, probably the key game of the match, Mandlikova held serve after fighting through seven deuces and staving off three break points.

Then, in the eighth game, Mandlikova finally solved Garrison’s serve, helped by a double fault at game point. That brought it to deuce, but Garrison, standing five feet from the net, put an easy smash into the bottom of the net.

When she held serve in the ninth game, Mandlikova had wrapped up the opening set.

She broke Garrison to begin the second set and held for a 2-0 lead.

The key in this set was the fifth game, when Mandlikova broke Garrison again. The game went to deuce 11 times and Garrison fought off seven break points before Mandlikova prevailed.