Tennis Roundup : Lendl, Noah Meet in Semifinals at Monte Carlo

Ivan Lendl beat defending champion Joakim Nystrom of Sweden, 7-6, 6-2, Friday to reach the semifinals of the $492,500 Monte Carlo Open tennis tournament.

His opponent today is Yannick Noah, who fought off three match points in a 2-6, 7-6, 6-3 win over Henri Leconte of France.

In the other semifinal, Martin Jaite of Argentina faces Thierry Tulasne of France. Jaite beat Claudio Pistolesi of Italy, 6-2, 6-0; Tulasne upset Andres Gomez of Ecuador, 7-5, 6-1.

Noah’s victory was marked by controversy.

After losing the first set, he trailed, 6-3, in a second-set tiebreaker, giving Leconte three match points.

On the first of those points, Noah served a ball he thought was out, and Leconte hit it for a winner to apparently end the match.

Chair umpire Bruno Rebeuh of France, however, overruled the linesman and called the ball out, giving Noah a second serve.

“The ball was on the line. I made a winner, and the match was over,” Leconte said. “I was going over to shake hands with Yannick, and the umpire changed the call.

“I tried to discuss it with the umpire. But he said I would get a fine if I continued. It was difficult for me to carry on after that.”

Leconte lost the next five points, and Noah won the tiebreaker, 8-6.

At Houston, Martina Navratilova defeated Arantxa Sanchez of Spain, 7-6, 6-2, and Chris Evert beat Gretchen Magers, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0, to advance to the semifinals of a $250,000 Virginia Slims tournament.