Tennis Roundup : Sanchez Eliminates Purcell to Reach the Semifinals

Emilio Sanchez of Spain advanced to the semifinals of the $315,000 West German Open tennis tournament at Hamburg, West Germany, Friday, defeating Mel Purcell, 6-2, 6-1.

The 21-year-old player from Madrid needed only 45 minutes to oust the American, who had upset top-seeded Boris Becker in the second round.

Today, Sanchez will meet fourth-seeded Henri Leconte of France, who survived a scare from 19-year-old Thomas Muster of Austria before advancing with a 6-2, 0-6, 7-5 victory.

Leconte, ranked seventh in the world, ran into difficulty against the 58th-ranked Muster in the second set, but he rallied in the third set after Muster had taken a 3-2 lead and won five of the next seven games.

In other quarterfinal matches, defending champion Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia beat Jakob Hlasek of Switzerland in 44 minutes, 6-0, 6-2, and Kent Carlsson defeated fellow Swede Henrik Sundstrom, 6-2, 6-7, 6-2.

Unseeded Lori McNeil fought off two match points to upset eighth-seeded Mary Joe Fernandez, 6-0, 3-6, 7-6, in the quarterfinals of a $150,000 women’s tournament at Largo, Fla.

In today’s semifinals, McNeil will face sixth-seeded Terry Phelps, who beat Elise Burgin, 6-4, 6-1, and Michelle Torres, who eliminated Marianne Werdel, 6-3, 6-2, will meet second-seeded Zina Garrison, who defeated Kate Gompert, 6-2, 7-5.