Two Other Teens Join Steffi Graf : Rehe and Fernandez Advance to Semifinals in $2.1-Million Event

Teen-agers Steffi Graf, Mary Joe Fernandez of Miami and Stephanie Rehe advanced Tuesday to the semifinals of the $2.1-million International Players Championships.

In a battle of West Germans, the 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.

Boosted by a partisan crowded that included about a dozen screaming classmates from Miami’s Carrollton High School, Fernandez reached 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, said winning the 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 the unseeded 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.”

Potter broke Rehe in the third game of the final set, but Rehe broke back in the sixth game and broke Potter again in the last game. Potter dodged three match points, but on the fourth she netted an easy overhead volley.

“What a way to win a match like that,” Rehe said. “I didn’t expect it, but I’ll take it. I was lucky to win on that shot.

“No matter how I do against Graf, I’m happy with the way I played this week.” Graf, who raced to leads of 5-1 and 5-0 against Kohde-Kilsch 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.”