Graf Beats Aussie, Coasts Into Semifinals : After Struggle Thursday, She Takes Only 50 Minutes for Victory

Top-seeded Steffi Graf cruised into the semifinals of the $200,000 Virginia Slims women’s tennis tournament today with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Rachel McQuillan of Australia.

Graf, the top-ranked woman player in the world, struggled in her opening tournament match Thursday against Nicole Jagerman of the Netherlands. But today, the West German needed only 50 minutes to dispatch the unseeded Australian on the slow clay court.

Watched by Alexander Mronz, a West German tennis player reported by Hamburg newspapers to be her boyfriend, Graf unleashed her full range of shots against McQuillan.

McQuillan, ranked 127th in the world, tried to counter by rushing to the net but found herself constantly passed by Graf’s nearly error-free game.

“It was a good opportunity to practice a few shots before the upcoming tournaments in West Berlin and Paris,” said Graf, who is trying to repeat her Grand Slam triumph of last year.

“I’m not playing yet the way I want, but it went well today,” she said.

In Saturday’s semifinals, Graf is to meet Bettina Fulco of Argentina, who ousted Nathalie Tauziat of France 7-5, 7-6.

Men’s Tennis

In Munich, meanwhile, Stefan Edberg crushed Alberto Mancini’s hopes of winning his second consecutive clay-court tournament, defeating the 19-year-old Argentine 7-6, 6-2 today for a semifinal spot in the $205,000 Bavarian Open.

There was another setback for Argentina when Guillermo Perez-Roldan, last year’s Munich champion, was ousted by Andrei Chesnokov of the Soviet Union.

Chesnokov, winner at Nice two weeks ago, outlasted the Argentine 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

Edberg, the Wimbledon champion, routed Mancini in the second set after winning the first-set tiebreaker.

Mancini, a clay court specialist who beat Boris Becker for the Monte Carlo Open title last week, had no answer to Edberg’s textbook serve-and-volley game.

“If I keep playing like this, I think I can win this tournament,” said Edberg, who is playing his first clay court event of the season.

Edberg’s semifinal opponent will be Martin Strelba of Czechoslovakia, who prevented an all-Swedish encounter by upsetting Jonas Svensson 6-4, 6-2.

The Soviet Union was assured of having one player in the final when Alexander Volkov beat Javier Sanchez of Spain 6-2, 6-4. Volkov plays his countryman Chesnokov in the semifinals.