Evert Fights Off Sukova in 3 Sets, Gains Semifinals

Chris Evert on Tuesday night joined teen-agers Steffi Graf, Mary Joe Fernandez and Stephanie Rehe in the semifinals of the $2.1-million International Players Championships.

Evert, 33, outlasted fifth-seeded Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia, 6-7, 7-5, 6-4, in a match that lasted 2 hours 28 minutes. Afterward, Sukova accused the umpire and linesmen of favoring Evert.

In a battle of West Germans, top-seeded Graf, 18, defeated sixth-seeded Claudia Kohde-Kilsch, 6-3, 6-1.

Fernandez, 16, beat Elna Reinach of South Africa, 6-2, 6-3, and Rehe, 18, upset ninth-seeded Barbara Potter, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.

Evert broke Sukova in the fifth game of the final set for her winning margin. Sukova said she played her best tennis in more than 18 months and called the umpire and linesmen “unfair” and “terrible.”

“I felt everything was going her way,” Sukova said. “On crucial points in the match, they were supporting her 100%.”

Evert disagreed.

“She’s entitled to her opinion, but bad calls did not make the difference in the match,” Evert said.

The first set was the only one Evert has lost in five rounds. She had a match point chance at 8-7 in the tiebreaker but couldn’t capitalize. She finally won the tiebreaker, 10-8.

“I felt my back was against the wall a lot of times,” Evert said. “I just ‘gutsed’ it out, basically.”

Fernandez, boosted by a partisan crowded that included about a dozen screaming classmates from Miami’s Carrollton High School, advanced to the semifinals of a Virginia Slims event for the first time.

“I’m real excited,” Fernandez said. “I don’t think it has hit me quite yet.”

Fernandez, who beat third-seeded Gabriela Sabatini on Sunday, plays Evert on Thursday.

Fernandez said winning the two-week tournament isn’t her top priority.

“Right now learning and improving are No. 1,” she said. “You always want to win, no matter what. But I think in the back of my mind I know that you have to work on improving to get to the top.”

For Rehe, a relaxed attitude paid off in her 2-hour, 39-minute match against Potter.

“Nobody expected me to win,” said the 34th-ranked player, who is from Highland, Calif. “I just went out there to have fun.”

Rehe’s opponent Thursday will be Graf, who raced to leads of 5-1 and 5-0 against Kohde-Kilsch. Graf said her desire has been increased since her 30-match winning streak was snapped by Sabatini 10 days ago.

“I didn’t want it, but somehow I think it helped me,” Graf said. “Winning was getting normal, and that’s not the way it should be. . . . I’m very eager now. I want to win this tournament.”

Kohde-Kilsch, 2-6 against Graf, said the teen-ager didn’t play as confidently as usual.

“She didn’t hit one forehand, for example, that I couldn’t handle,” Kohde-Kilsch said. “I didn’t see any of her famous forehand.”