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Tennis Roundup : Edberg, Noah Easily Advance at Dallas; Garrison Is Ousted in Florida

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From Times Wire Services

Top-seeded Stefan Edberg coasted past last-minute substitute Martin Jaite, 6-4, 6-3, 6-0, Wednesday night to set up a semifinal match against a player he has always beaten, Yannick Noah, in the $680,000 World Championship of Tennis at Dallas.

Edberg inherited the tournament’s top seeding when fellow Swede Mats Wilander withdrew with a pulled groin muscle and a sprained ankle.

Wilander’s absence also put Jaite into the event and the Argentine exited quietly, breaking Edberg’s serve only once in a match that lasted 1 hour 34 minutes.

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Edberg and Noah have met five times, Edberg winning them all. They have not played in more than a year, however, with Edberg’s last victory coming in the 1986 Masters.

Noah, who this season is off to the best start in his nine-year professional career, lost his serve just once in disposing of Tim Mayotte, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, in 1 hour 36 minutes. Mayotte had won the three previous meetings with the Frenchman, two of them in straight sets.

Not only did he serve well, Noah returned Mayotte’s serve consistently and dealt out one forceful volley after another.

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Noah’s victory boosted his 1988 record to 19-3.

Mayotte earned two break points against Noah in the third game of the match, but failed to convert and found himself with few opportunities after that.

Mayotte was broken just once in each of the first two sets, losing the 10th game of the first set when Noah rifled a backhand passing shot down the line at set point.

Two straight unforced errors, one on a backhand and the other on a forehand, cost Mayotte his serve in the fourth game of the second set. Mayotte was broken in the fifth game of the third set and suddenly Noah failed to win a point on his own serve in the sixth game. But Noah broke right back and then broke again in the ninth game to win the match.

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Fourth-seeded Zina Garrison and seventh-seeded Isabel Cueto were upset by unseeded players in the $200,000 Eckerd Open at Largo, Fla.

Garrison was beaten, 6-1, 6-3, by Halle Cioffi in a delayed first-round match.

Cueto, of West Germany, was ousted by unseeded Patricia Tarabini of Argentina, 6-1, 6-1, in a second-round match to move into the quarterfinals.

In other second-round matches, top-seeded Chris Evert had no trouble beating unseeded qualifier Federica Bonsignori of Italy, 6-2, 6-4, and second-seeded Manuela Maleeva of Bulgaria defeated unseeded Kathleen Horvath, 6-2, 7-5.

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