Tennis Roundup : Australia Clinches Spot In Davis Cup Semifinals

Defending champion Australia took just 15 minutes of doubles play against Mexico today to clinch a spot in the semifinals of the Davis Cup for the 13th straight year.

Wally Masur and Peter Doohan defeated Mexico’s Jorge Lozano and Leonardo Lavalle, 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 8-6, 13-11, at Brisbane, Australia, in a doubles match that had been called because of darkness Saturday night with the fifth set tied at 10-10.

Masur, Lavalle, and Doohan each held serve today before Lozano was broken.

The victory gives the Australians an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the best-of-five series and a berth in the semifinals against India.

At New Delhi, brothers Vijay and Anand Amritraj beat the Israeli team of Shlomo Glickstein and Gilad Bloom, 6-2, 6-2, 7-5, Saturday to clinch their best-of-five series, 3-0.

It was the first time India had gained the semifinals in 12 years.

In other quarterfinals, France trimmed Sweden’s lead to 2-1, and Spain took a 2-1 lead over Paraguay.

At Frejus, France, Guy Forget and Henri Leconte rallied to defeat Stefan Edberg and Anders Jarryd, keeping France’s hopes alive with a 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 15-13 victory after 4 hours 10 minutes.

In the final set, Forget and Leconte squandered seven match points before winning.

In singles today, Leconte meets Kent Carlsson, and France’s Thierry Tulasne plays Mats Wilander.

At Caracas, Venezuela, Emilio Sanchez and Sergio Casals beat the Paraguayan team of Francisco Gonzalez and Victor Pecci, 6-2, 16-18, 6-3, 14-12, in 5 1/2 hours to give Spain its lead.

Ivan Lendl defeated Aaron Krickstein, 7-6, 4-6, 6-2, at Stowe, Vt., to advance to the final of a $100,000 tournament.

Today, Lendl will face Jimmy Arias, who defeated Todd Witsken, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6.

“It was good for me to play someone like Aaron today,” said Lendl, who is making his first tournament appearance since losing to Pat Cash in the Wimbledon singles final nearly three weeks ago. “He was hitting the ball very well from the base line, and I was able to get a really good workout.”