Tennis Roundup : Sabatini Closes In on Another Tournament Win

Top-seeded Gabriela Sabatini beat Linda Ferrando of Italy, 6-2, 6-3, Friday in the quarterfinals of the Eckerd Tennis Open at Largo, Fla., but the Argentine said the match was tougher than it should have been.

“I think I made it a lot more difficult,” Sabatini said. “It was hot to play out there. It was hard to move. There were many deuces in all the games. I made too many mistakes and was not really into the match.”

Sabatini nonetheless advanced to today’s semifinals. Her opponent will be No. 4-seeded Arantxa Sanchez of Spain, who needed just 57 minutes to eliminate Rosalyn Fairbank of San Diego, 6-1, 6-0.

The other semifinal pits No. 6 Sandra Cecchini of Italy against No. 8 Conchita Martinez of Spain. Cecchini dropped qualifier Petra Langrova of Czechoslovakia, 6-2, 6-2, and Martinez defeated Halle Cioffi of Knoxville, Tenn., 6-1, 6-2.

Sabatini, ranked third in the world, said she is eager to win the tournament as a follow-up to last week’s upset victory over top-ranked Steffi Graf at Amelia Island, Fla.

“It was a good win over Steffi, but now I have to try to win this one,” Sabatini said.

Yugoslav teen-ager Goran Ivanisevic and last year’s surprise finalist, Jerome Potier of France, gained the semifinals of the $200,000 Swatch Open tournament at Nice, France.

The 6-foot 5-inch Ivanisevic, 17, who advanced to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in January, beat Fernando Luna of Spain, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, and Potier defeated Alberto Mancini of Argentina, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, in another quarterfinal match. Potier is ranked 254th in the world, Mancini 32nd.

No. 6-seeded Andrei Chesnokov of the Soviet Union beat No. 3 Guillermo Perez-Roldan of Argentina, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. The match was delayed two hours because of rain.

In an all-Italian quarterfinal, Francisco Cancellotti defeated Claudio Pistolesi, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.