Sabatini, Garrison, Shriver Make Things Follow Form : Each Wins Easily to Reach Semifinals

If there are to be surprises in the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles tennis tournament, they will have to wait until the semifinals.

Three of the top four seeded players won in straight sets Friday afternoon at Manhattan Beach. The other, top-seeded Martina Navratilova, was scheduled to play No. 7 Hana Mandlikova in the evening session.

No. 2 Gabriela Sabatini defeated No. 8 Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden, 6-2, 6-4. No. 3 Zina Garrison beat No. 12 Nathalie Tauziat of France, 6-4, 6-2, and No. 4 Pam Shriver topped No. 5 Mary Joe Fernandez, 6-3, 6-4.

In today’s semifinals, Sabatini will play Shriver and Garrison will meet the winner of the Navratilova-Mandlikova match.

The final will be played Sunday at the Manhattan Country Club, with the winner earning $60,000.

Sabatini needed only 56 minutes to eliminate Lindqvist.

“I was trying to hit the ball and move her,” Sabatini said. “I played much better today. She was serving well and moving well, and I was hitting good passing shots and she was getting them.

“I was better today because I tried to put the serve high. I was not serving hard because I didn’t need to. My concentration was working.”

Garrison had a tougher time, needing 82 minutes to win her match. She lost the first three games, then won 12 of the next 15 to close out Tauziat.

“It felt like one of those days,” Garrison said. “Even in practice, I had to do extra just to get myself up. I think today was one of those days we were both a little bit slow on everything.”

The Shriver-Fernandez match lasted 71 minutes and ended when Shriver served an ace.

“I was going for the ace, I was going for the line,” Shriver said of her final serve. “This is probably the best service match outdoors that I’ve played in two years. But she returns very well.