Tennis Roundup : Injury in Freak Accident Puts Steffi Graf Out of Action

Steffi Graf, West Germany’s top women’s tennis player, broke her toe Thursday when a sun umbrella fell on her foot and knocked the 17-year-old out of the Federation Cup matches at Prague, Czechoslovakia.

Graf, ranked third in the world, was going to pick up her rackets for practice when the umbrella toppled over in a strong wind and the table landed on her foot.

X-rays revealed a broken big right toe. There is no indication when she will be able to play again.

It is expected that Bettina Bunge will take Graf’s place in the quarterfinals today when No. 3-seeded West Germany meets No. 5 Bulgaria. The United States plays No. 8 Italy in its quarterfinal match.

The absence of Graf could benefit the Americans, who are seeded to meet West Germany in Saturday’s semifinals. Graf won four tournaments in a row during April and May, a streak which included 20 matches and victories over Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert Lloyd. She missed Wimbledon because of a viral infection.

Meanwhile, Gabriela Sabatini and Hana Mandlikova had to struggle Thursday to put their teams into the semifinals. Sabatini defeated Austria’s Petra Huber, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, to clinch a 3-0 victory for No. 7-seeded Argentina. Mandlikova beat Australia’s Wendy Turnbull, 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, to carry No. 2-seeded Czechoslovakia to a 3-0 victory.

Two unseeded players, Mike Leach and Sammy Giammalva, reached the quarterfinals of a $125,000 tournament at Livingston, N.J.

Leach defeated Nduka Odizor of Nigeria, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, and Giammalva beat Ricardo Acuna of Chile, 6-3, 6-2.

Leach benefited from a sportsmanlike gesture by Odizor, who then failed to win another point.

At deuce in the 12th game of the third set, Leach’s first service hit the cord and appeared to fall into the service box. But the chair umpire called it a fault. Odizor, however, said the ball was good, providing Leach with another first serve.

Leach then hit two service winners to force the tiebreaker, which he won without losing a point.

“I think that it was a tremendous gesture by Odizor,” Leach said. “Unfortunately, I think it took the stuffing out of him.”

At Brookline, Mass., fifth-seeded Jimmy Arias used a steady baseline game to advance to the quarterfinals of the $279,000 U.S. Pro Championships.

Arias, who defeated Marko Ostoja of Yugoslavia, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, will meet third-seeded Martin Jaite of Argentina, who ousted 14th-seeded Fernando Luna of Spain, 6-1, 7-5.

At Bastad, Sweden, Czechoslovakia’s Miloslav Mecir reached the quarterfinals of the $125,000 Swedish Open with a 6-4, 7-6, 6-4 victory over Spain’s David de Miguel.

Heavy rain allowed only one other match. Paolo Cane of Italy, who upset fourth-seeded Swede Joakim Nystrom, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, Wednesday, again rallied to win, eliminating Czechoslovakia’s Marian Vajda, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.