Tennis Roundup : Sanchez Upsets Wilander; Lendl Defeats Noah

Unseeded Emilio Sanchez of Spain produced another upset at Rome Saturday to advance to the final of the $435,000 Italian Open tennis championships against No. 1-seeded Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia.

This time, Sanchez defeated No. 2-seeded Mats Wilander of Sweden, 6-3, 7-5. Friday, he beat Wimbledon champion Boris Becker of West Germany, seeded No. 3, and the day before he ousted Aaron Krickstein, seeded No. 12.

Lendl fought off a match point to oust defending champion Yannick Noah of France, 1-6, 6-2, 7-6.

Lendl and Sanchez will meet for the first time today, with $56,000 going to the winner.

Sanchez said he thought Wilander had given him a tougher match than Becker.

“Wilander was more difficult than Becker, because he is one of the world’s best on clay and he hits the ball long and high and that’s very difficult to cope with,” said the 20-year-old right-hander from Madrid, who overcame a 3-2 deficit in the first set to win six straight games against Wilander.

“I played quite well at the start, but I became too defensive and he got better as the match went on,” said Wilander, who begins defense of his French Open title at Roland Garros in 10 days.

Lendl, meanwhile, had his hands full in a three-hour grudge match against the No. 4-seeded Noah, who had beaten him in the Tournament of Champions last Saturday at New York.

At 4-5 and 30-40 in the final set, Lendl saved match point on a disputed serve, which the line judge first called out and then ruled in.

“I think I was robbed,” Noah said. “The match-point call was so close. They always give those to the No. 1 player.

“When the linesman shouted it was out, I didn’t really hit the ball,” he said. “I just couldn’t believe the umpire gave the call he did.”

Lendl’s victory brought his record against Noah to 7-6 and his overall record for 1986 to 35-2.

Asked about the crucial match-point, Lendl said: “My feeling is the ruling was right. He (Noah) barely even got his racket to the ball. So the umpire made the right call.”

Martina Navratilova won her 30th straight match, beating Jo Durie of Britain, 6-2, 6-1, in the quarterfinals of the $150,000 West German Women’s Open at West Berlin.

West Germany’s Steffi Graf and Claudia Kohde-Kilsch and Czechoslovakia’s Hana Mandlikova also advanced. Kohde-Kilsch, who beat Petra Huber of Austria, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, will face Navratilova today. Graf, who defeated Andrea Temesvari of Hungary, 6-3, 6-3, will meet Mandlikova, who beat Bettina Bunge, 6-2, 6-0.