Top Four Seeded Women Reach Tennis Semifinals

They have played each other 37 times in the past nine years, so if nothing else, Martina Navratilova and Hana Mandlikova know each other pretty well by now.

When they crossed rackets again on a cool and breezy Friday night, it was a confrontation with meaning on many levels.

Here they were, born and bred in Czechoslovakia where they teethed on a racket, captors of the elusive Grand Slam events and citizens of new countries.

After nine years, they may be more alike than different from the way they were the first time they played in 1980.

“Nine years younger then,” said Navratilova, who put her fingers to the part in her hair. “It’s time to get it colored again, so you can’t see the gray.”

If nothing else, it was a colorful match. As usual, the top-seeded Navratilova won, 7-5, 6-4, to set up a semifinal match at 1 p.m. today with third-seeded Zina Garrison.

In the other semifinal, at 7 tonight, second-seeded Gabriela Sabatini will play fourth-seeded Pam Shriver.

Navratilova’s 30th career victory over Mandlikova and her fifth without a loss this year depended on two clutch service breaks when she was behind in the second set.

Mandlikova was serving at 4-3, 30-15, but didn’t win another point in that game. She watched as Navratilova deposited a backhand passing shot deep in the corner at break point.

It got worse for Mandlikova, who won only one more point the last two games and was broken for the match at 15, which meant that one Prague native had beaten another.

Mandlikova said she feels a certain kinship with Navratilova.

“Over the years . . . you realize what players like Martina--and Chris and myself--have to do to win major tournaments, and that brings you closer.”

Navratilova found it difficult to put any distance between herself and Mandlikova because she couldn’t hold her serve, either: Mandlikova broke her five times.

But off the court, the two are pretty tight, Navratilova said. “I’m as close to her as anybody out there,” she said.

Garrison has not gotten near Navratilova in her career--except for last year’s U.S. Open. Navratilova holds a 23-1 edge.

For that matter, nobody has gotten very close to Sabatini so far this week. Sabatini reached the semifinals against Shriver with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Catarina Lindqvist. Shriver defeated Mary Joe Fernandez, 6-3, 6-4.

Sabatini trailed, 3-1, in the second set, but got back to 3-3 and then broke Lindqvist in the next game with a forehand cross-court passing shot on break point.

Once again, Sabatini resorted to the high bouncing topspin that has proved deadly on the hardcourt surface. Lindqvist, who made it to the Wimbledon semifinals, where she lost to Navratilova, said the surface at Manhattan Country Club is fast, but not faster than the surface at the U.S. Open.

So Sabatini used the slightly slower courts to her advantage, because the ball bounces higher when she hits her looping topspin.

Shriver is already concerning herself with Sabatini’s serve, which she said was once the weakest link in Sabatini’s game. But that was a couple of years ago. Sabatini is 19 now.

“Now, with her shoulders about six feet wide, she’s got a very good serve,” Shriver said.

There wasn’t much wrong with Shriver’s serve against Fernandez. Shriver served seven aces in what she said was her best match outdoors in two years.

Although Shriver is ranked No. 9 and Fernandez No. 14, it was probably an upset victory given Shriver’s spotty singles record this year.

Still, with Shriver serving so well, Fernandez needed all the help she could get, but there didn’t seem to any available. Down a break at 2-4 in the first set, Fernandez saw two crucial line calls go against her, and she lost her chance to break back.

In the second set, Shriver got the key break, at 3-3, when Fernandez sent a backhand down the line but wide at break point. Two Shriver aces helped her hold to 5-3, and she served for the match at 5-4.

Fernandez saved three match points, two of them on blistering passing shots, but couldn’t get away on the fourth match point. Shriver aced Fernandez down the middle on a big second serve.

“I felt the rhythm,” she said. “I was good. That’s my best win all year. I’m excited because I’m starting to feel like I’m a player again instead of a spectator.”

Solving Sabatini’s topspin may be a difficult task for Shriver, but she has a plan. The key is to take the ball quickly.

What’s driving Garrison is a number. She thinks her No. 6 ranking is faulty and No. 4 is more like it. That number belongs to Chris Evert, who may be relinquishing it soon, so it could be Garrison’s, anyway.

Garrison’s match with Nathalie Tauziat was not one for the ages. Garrison fell behind, 0-3, but won, 6-4, 6-2, in a match spotted with nine service breaks in the 18 games.

“It was just one of those days,” Garrison said.

Tennis Notes

Since Chris Evert’s decision on playing in the U.S. Open is still not known, Ana Leaird of the Women’s International Tennis Assn., a friend of Evert’s since childhood, has flown to Aspen, Colo., to find out. . . . Foul balls? Zina Garrison knew something was wrong in the second game of her quarterfinal match with Nathalie Tauziat of France. “I couldn’t hit the ball on the court.” The problem couldn’t have been her strokes. It must be the balls, she thought. And it was. The court had been supplied with balls meant to be used on another surface. “It’s OK,” Garrison said. “It only cost me a game and a half.” . . . Players Pam Shriver, Elise Burgin, Lea Antonoplis, Kathrin Kyle, Anna Maria Fernandez and Eva Pfaff, WITA and Virginia Slims consultant Ted Tinling and Lee Jackson of the WITA visited Tracy Austin at Centinela Hospital Medical Center.