Tennis Roundup : For First Time Since ‘85, Arias Is Playing in Grand Prix Final

Unseeded Jimmy Arias and fourth-seeded Mats Wilander won semifinal matches Saturday in the $513,000 Monte Carlo Open at Monaco.

Arias beat Horst Skoff of Austria, 7-5, 6-1, and Wilander defeated fellow Swede Ulf Stenlund, 6-2, 6-2.

Arias, on the comeback trail after ranking as high as fifth in the world in 1984, has dropped to 53rd this year. But he beat two-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker earlier this week on the way to his first Grand Prix final since 1985.

In today’s match against Skoff, Arias blasted forehand winners and made timely trips to the net. He overcame a 0-2 deficit in the first set to go up 4-2 and held that advantage for the first-set victory.

In the second set, Skoff lost all three of his service games on a combination of excellent play by Arias and errors by Skoff. Skoff tried to come in a number of times but his approach shots found the net.

Wilander won his match easily when Stenlund lost all eight of his service games.

Today’s final brings together Wilander and Arias for only the second time in a tournament. They both were 17-year-olds when Wilander won in a first-round match at the Italian Open in 1982. Arias won at Rome the following year.

Third-seeded Anne Minter of Australia beat Adriana Villagram of Argentina, 0-6, 6-3, 6-1, to move into the final of a $50,000 women’s tournament at Taipei, Taiwan.

Minter will meet Claudia Porwik of West Germany today. Porwik ousted Heather Ludloff of Foster City, Calif., 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, in the other semifinal match.

Top prize for singles is $9,000. The runner-up receives $4,100.