Australian Open Tennis : Wilander Advances to Semifinal Round With 7-6, 6-2, 6-3 Victory

Two-time champion Mats Wilander defeated fellow Swede Anders Jarryd, 7-6, 6-2, 6-3, Wednesday to reach the semifinals of the Australian Open.

Wilander earned a meeting with either defending champion Stefan Edberg of Sweden or Andrei Chesnokov of the Soviet Union, who played later in the day.

The other men’s semifinal will be between top-seeded Ivan Lendl and Wimbledon champion Pat Cash. Neither has lost a set in the tournament.

The men’s semifinals are scheduled to be held Friday.

Wilander, seeded third, won the Australian Open title 1983 and 1984. He is seeking the fifth Grand Slam title of his career, also having won the French Open twice.

Jarryd, seeded sixth, provided stiff competition throughout the first set. Wilander staved off three set points in the 10th game before winning the tiebreaker, 7-2.

After that, Wilander was able to outhit Jarryd from the base line.

“I felt like it was very important to Anders to win the first set,” Wilander said. “I felt like he was tired from his big match the other day.

“He played at the start like he has when he’s beaten me. He tried to make me miss.

“I was lucky to win the first set and lucky to win in three straight.”

Jarryd played a five-set round of 16 match against Australian John Frawley that finished in the early hours Tuesday morning, but he had more than 36 hours to recover.

“I did feel tired,” Jarryd said. “If you are going to beat these guys you know you have to stay out there for four hours.”

The women’s semifinals, scheduled for Thursday, will pit Martina Navratilova against Chris Evert for the 76th time in their long careers, and top-seeded Steffi Graf against fellow West German Claudia Kohde-Kilsch.

Evert reached the semifinals Tuesday with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over 19-year-old Claudia Porwik of West Germany, while Navratilova defeated sixth-seeded Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia, 6-4, 7-6.

Graf enhanced her already fearsome reputation as the player to beat when she crushed defending champion Hana Mandlikova of Czechoslovakia, 6-2, 6-2, on Tuesday.