Tennis Roundup : Arias, Novacek Reach Semifinals in D.C.

Jimmy Arias and Karel Novacek registered upset victories Friday to join Andres Gomez and Thierry Tulasne in the semifinals of the $220,000 D.C. tournament at Washington.

Arias, seeded fifth, rallied to beat third-seeded Martin Jaite of Argentina, 3-6, 7-6, 6-3, in 2 hours 18 minutes after losing the first set and trailing, 4-3, in the second.

Jaite was trying to reach the final here for a second straight year.

Novacek, the only unseeded player left in the tournament, scored a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Sweden’s Kent Carlsson, who was seeded sixth. The Czechoslovakian, ranked No. 110 in the world, had never before reached the semifinals of a major Grand Prix event.

Earlier, Gomez routed Aaron Krickstein, 6-4, 6-1, in 59 minutes, while Tulasne won 10 games in a row en route to a 6-1, 6-3 win over Sweden’s Johan Carlsson (no relation to Kent).

The top-seeded Gomez will play Novacek in one semifinal, while Arias will meet the second-seeded Tulasne in the other.

Defending champion Jimmy Connors defeated David Pate, 6-2, 7-6, Friday in the quarterfinals of the Paine Webber Invitational at the Beaver Creek resort near Vail, Colo.

In other matches, Tim Mayotte beat Kevin Curren, 6-4, 6-4; Paul Annacone defeated fourth-seeded Johan Kriek, 6-4, 6-4, and third-seeded Brad Gilbert ousted Tom Gullikson, 6-3, 7-6.