Gradually, Edberg Finds His Way and Moves Into Semifinals

Thursday night, John McEnroe assessed his performance to date in the $315,000 Volvo tournament at the Los Angeles Tennis Center at UCLA and said: “I’m playing just well enough to win.”

Took the words right out of Stefan Edberg’s mouth. The tournament’s second-seeded player is playing better in every match, but he has yet to show consistently the excellence that has brought the 19-year-old Swede to a world ranking of ninth.

In his 6-2, 6-4 quarterfinal win Friday afternoon over unseeded Ramesh Krishnan of India, Edberg resurrected his serve and managed to concentrate better than he had earlier in the tournament.

Edberg had phased in and out during his match Thursday against Brad Pearce.

“Yes, I was concentrating better today,” Edberg said. “I served much better. I’m pleased with that. I went out and practiced my serve after the match last night.”

It helped. Friday, Edberg had three service aces to Krishnan’s one and no double-faults to Krishnan’s four.

“Basically, I was having so much trouble with his serves I couldn’t get anything going,” Krishnan said. Krishnan, 24, is ranked 33rd in the world.

“He didn’t allow me to start. I feel like I played as well as I had in the other matches.”

He didn’t start well, however. Edberg broke Krishnan’s serve in the first game and again in the fifth to go up, 4-1. Both players held serve to finish the set.

In the second set, Krishnan was matching Edberg point for point. Five of the 10 games in the second set went to deuce.

Krishnan’s flowing strokes didn’t pack much power, nor did his serve. But he has honed other weapons in his game. His shot selection and placement were excellent and when he did get to net, his volleys were crisp and right on.

“He returns serve well,” Edberg said. “I also think he has a good volley. We had been practicing a couple of times here, so I knew how to play him.”

In their only other meeting a year ago, Krishnan beat Edberg in three sets on grass.

What McEnroe’s previous matches had lacked in emotion and fire, his meeting with fifth-seeded Brad Gilbert Friday night more than supplied.

Gilbert, 24, was pumped up before the match and spent the better part of the next 1 hour 41 minutes exhorting himself, McEnroe, the chair umpire and the crowd of 6,247.

McEnroe won, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, in his toughest fight of the tournament.

The animosity between the players showed. Numerous times, Gilbert questioned what he believed were bad calls.

Gilbert started fast by breaking McEnroe’s serve in the first game. And he took the first set, mainly due to a lack of interest by McEnroe.

In the fifth game of the second set, Gilbert protested a call on a shot by McEnroe that he believed to be out. He protested to the umpire. He jumped up and down, then he stalked back to the service line, and he paced.

The crowd, stirred by the controversy, chanted: “Out, out.” McEnroe walked to the sideline and told the umpire he was going to sit down until the dust settled.

“I think he did get a bad call,” McEnroe said. “He had a reason to complain about that. (However) he did complain on some balls that were three to four inches out. He complained about some that weren’t even close. I’ve learned that lesson.”

McEnroe had plenty more to say about Gilbert, who is ranked No. 17 in the world. The two have been playing each other since they began in junior tennis, with McEnroe winning all seven meetings.

Are you friends, Gilbert was asked.

“I know him, and he knows me,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert’s intense court nature irked McEnroe.

“I just don’t think he should be doing some of the things he’s doing on the court,” McEnroe said, referring to Gilbert’s apparent rubbing-in of his winners.

“He’s got a bad attitude on the court. I don’t need him to tell me how great he is. In my wildest dreams, I wouldn’t have an attitude like that. I’ve done more than he’ll ever do in 10 lifetimes.”

Gilbert, informed of McEnroe’s comments, said: “If he didn’t like my attitude, I think his stinks.”

McEnroe will play eighth-seeded Paul Annacone in a semifinal match tonight at 7:30, while fourth-seeded Johan Kriek will play Edberg today at 1 p.m.

Kriek advanced by beating seventh-seeded Jimmy Arias, 2-6, 7-5, 7-6.

It was the closest match so far in the tournament. Both players fought hard and nearly equally.

The one imbalance in the match was at net. Kriek, a serve-and-volley player, approached the net 111 times and won 71 of those points. Arias stayed back, going to the net only 19 times for 11 winners.

The excitable Kriek at one point was penalized for hitting the court with his racket, although he had been smashing it to the ground routinely during the match.

In the remaining quarterfinal match Friday, Annacone upset third-seeded Scott Davis, 6-4, 6-2.

“I just took advantage of a couple of good opportunities in the first set and started really well in the second,” Annacone said. “I served pretty well. I mixed it up a lot, which seemed to help a bit. He didn’t get any rhythm.”

Davis, who had trouble with his serve, found Annacone on one of his better days.

“Everything seemed to go just about right for him”, Davis said.