Tennis Roundup : McEnroe Makes It to Semifinals

John McEnroe continued his warm-up for a Wimbledon return, coming from a set down to beat Peter Lundgren of Sweden, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, Thursday and earn a spot in the semifinals of the Wirral International tennis tournament at West Kirby, England.

McEnroe was joined by two other Americans in the semifinals.

David Pate downed Kevin Curren, 7-6, 7-6, and Leif Shiras defeated Jim Pugh, 6-4, 6-3. Pate and Shiras will play today, while McEnroe takes on Christo van Rensburg of South Africa, who routed Andrei Chesnokov of the Soviet Union, 6-2, 6-1.

“Being able to to play on grass and playing a lot of points is the best way to overcome playing badly,” McEnroe said. “I’ve been working hard and have been trying to pick up the pace.”

McEnroe remained calm despite some close line calls. He questioned a call in the first set when one of Lundgren’s passes was called in although it appeared to be out, but quickly resumed playing.

Mary Joe Fernandez upset Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina, 6-2, 7-5, to advance to the semifinals against Martina Navratilova in a $250,000 tournament at Eastbourne, England.

Navratilova scored a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Larissa Savchenko of the Soviet Union.

In today’s other semifinal, Natalia Zvereva of the Soviet Union will face Pascal Paradis of France. Zvereva turned back Caterina Lindqvist of Sweden, 6-4, 0-6, 6-2, and Paradis beat Anne Minter of Australia, 6-4, 6-3.

Third-seeded Ramesh Krishnan of India defeated fourth-seeded Eric Jelen of West Germany, 6-3, 6-4, advancing to the semifinals of a tournament at Bristol, England.

In other matches, seventh-seeded Christian Saceanu of West Germany eliminated Matt Anger, 6-3, 7-6; Derrick Rostagno knocked off No. 14 Eduardo Masso of Argentina, and Mark Dickson beat Stephen Shaw of Britain, 6-1, 7-5.

Unseeded Tomas Carbonell of Spain upset second-seeded Guillermo Vilas of Argentina, 7-5, 7-6, in the third round of a $123,400 tournament at Athens.

In other matches, eighth-seeded Horst Skoff of Austria defeated Michael Westphal of West Germany, 7-6, 6-1; Eduardo Osta of Spain beat Pablo Arraya of Peru, 6-4, 6-2, and Paul Vojtisek of West Germany ousted George Kalovelonis of Greece, 7-5, 6-2.