Tennis Roundup : McEnroe Loses His Concentration but Wins Match

John McEnroe overwhelmed Thomas Muster, a 19-year-old Austrian, 6-4, 6-1, Friday to move into the semifinals against Yannick Noah of France in the $920,000 European Community championships at Antwerp, Belgium.

Noah edged Horacio de la Pena of Argentina, 7-6, 6-4.

Jimmy Arias beat Aaron Krickstein, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, and will meet Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia, who defeated Andres Gomez of Ecuador, 7-5, 6-4.

Annoyed by an unruly crowd of 10,000, McEnroe lost his concentration late in the second set and received a warning from the referee, but he then served out for the match at 6-1.

Meanwhile, in London, organizers of next week’s $375,000 Benson and Hedges indoor tournament at Wembley announced that McEnroe will probably make his first appearance in Britain in 17 months.

To play at Wembley, McEnroe must appeal a suspension imposed on him by the Men’s International Professional Tennis Council after a recent outburst against British umpire Jeremy Shales at Paris.

Richard Matuszewski, a former All-American at Clemson, came within two points of upsetting top-seeded Stefan Edberg of Sweden before losing a third-set tiebreaker in the quarterfinals of the $435,000 Stockholm Open.

Edberg, ranked No. 3 in the world, beat Matuszewski, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6, to reach the semifinals against Henri Leconte of France, who defeated Tim Mayotte, 6-3, 6-4.

Behind, 4-5, in the decisive set, Edberg was twice just two points away from losing the match. Each time he got out of trouble by acing his opponent. Both players then held their serves at love, setting up the tiebreaker. Edberg lost the first point, then won seven in a row to wrap up the match.

In today’s other semifinal match, second-seeded Mats Wilander, who swept the final nine games to defeat Gary Donnelly, 7-5, 6-0, will face Guy Forget, who overpowered Sweden’s Kent Carlsson, 7-6, 6-4.

Chris Evert Lloyd withdrew from the $1-million Virginia Slims Championships Nov. 17-23 at New York’s Madison Square Garden and will be out of action until January because of a knee injury.

“I am still having ongoing pain in my left knee,” said Lloyd, 31. “It has been giving me trouble off and on since last spring, and the only way to allow it to heal is with a rehabilitation program and rest.”

At Worcester, Mass., Lori McNeil upset eighth-seeded Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, to gain the third round of a $250,000 Virginia Slims event.