Tennis Roundup : Sabatini, 17, Upsets Navratilova; Maleeva Tops Shriver

Second-seeded Martina Navratilova was upset by sixth-seeded Gabriela Sabatini Friday night in the quarterfinals of the Virginia Slims Championships, ending Navratilova’s bid for a fifth straight title.

The 17-year-old Argentine player beat Navratilova, 6-4, 7-5, before a stunned crowd of 13,854 at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

“I knew I could win this match,” Sabatini said. “Today, everything worked perfectly. I think I played great today, one of the best matches I’ve ever played.”

Sabatini had beaten Navratilova only once in eight matches, in the semifinals of the 1987 Italian Open.

Sabatini broke Navratilova to go up, 4-3, in the first set, then held serve twice to win the set.

After breaking each other twice in the second set, Navratilova and Sabatini were tied, 5-5. Sabatini broke Navratilova again in the 11th game and held serve to win the match.

Sabatini will meet eighth-seeded Manuela Maleeva of Bulgaria, who upset No. 4 Pam Shriver, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.

In today’s other semifinal, top-seeded Steffi Graf of West Germany will play countrywoman Sylvia Hanika.

There were nine service breaks in the third set of the Maleeva-Shriver match, including seven in a row to start the set.

The $1-million tournament, with the top 16 singles players and top 8 doubles teams in the world, is the final women’s event of the year.

Top-seeded Pat Cash of Australia battled from behind to defeat South Africa-born American Kevin Curren, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, and advance to the semifinals of the $375,000 South African Open at Johannesburg.

In the semifinals, Cash, the Wimbledon champion, will face fifth-seeded Amos Mansdorf of Israel, who defeated unseeded Francesco Cancellotti of Italy, 0-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Second-seeded Andres Gomez of Ecuador won his quarterfinal over Gary Muller, the last South African in the field, 6-1, 6-3. He will play Brad Gilbert, who beat Switzerland’s Jakob Hlasek in the other quarterfinal.