Swedish Word: Is It Taboo? : Pernfors, Cited for Obscenity, Loses to Gilbert

Mikael Pernfors, Atlanta-based and Swedish-born, lost something in the translation Friday night.

It turned out to be his match against Brad Gilbert, which ended with not only a 6-4, 6-1 Gilbert victory, but also a language lesson.

Pernfors received a code violation for an audible obscenity in the second set by chair umpire Paulo Pereira, and when he argued, he was then assessed a second code violation for delay of game and penalized a point.

What was the magic word?

Pernfors said it was fattar , Swedish for understand , which Pernfors was unable to do. He said he may appeal any fine from the umpire.

“It’s all so ridiculous,” Pernfors said. “Maybe they can get some money and buy some new uniforms.”

Gilbert, who meets Aaron Krickstein in the semifinals, said he wasn’t sure what Pernfors said.

“I don’t speak Swedish,” Gilbert said.

As Michael Chang hit balls that played hide-and-seek with the sun and shadows that were splitting time on the court, Darren Cahill didn’t see enough of them to do much damage.

Chang took out Cahill with ease, 6-1, 6-3, and went on to a semifinal matchup with Scott Davis.

Chang, top-seeded for the first time, thought he was going to have a tougher match but was relieved that he didn’t.

After the match, Cahill wanted to talk to fellow Australian Graeme Agars, a reporter, but Agars was playing golf.

“I should have gone, too,” Cahill said.

Krickstein’s 6-0, 6-3 victory over Andrew Sznajder took 55 minutes, or just about long enough for someone to read the newspaper, which Krickstein did Friday morning.

What he read did not make him happy. When asked about Krickstein’s semifinal showing at the U.S. Open, Sznajder had said: “Everybody is going to have one good week in the year.”

Krickstein found motivation in this comment. After pointing out that the U.S. Open is a two-week tournament, he said he had something to prove against Sznajder.

“At least I had one good week,” Krickstein said. “He’ll learn.”

Sznajder said he actually meant to be talking about consistency in general, not Krickstein. Sznajder was uneven throughout, making 43 unforced errors to five for Krickstein.

Seeing all this happen, Krickstein arrived at a strategy in the first set.

“I thought, ‘Maybe I’ll just get the ball in play and he’ll miss everything,’ ” Krickstein said.

Meanwhile, Davis’ news conference lasted longer than Krickstein’s match.

Davis, who came from 2-5 down in the third set, feuded and fumed past Kevin Curren, 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 7-5, in 2 hours 32 minutes that should have been taped for “Geraldo.”

Curren blew two match points at 5-3, lost the last five games and then revealed the extent of his relationship with Davis.

“Scott Davis and I are not friends at all,” Curren said.

Oh? And why is that?

“He’s a bit of a hot mouth, and one day he will learn about it,” Curren said.

Davis got the ball rolling in the second set when he turned and walked away from the baseline just as Curren started his service motion.

Curren served an ace, but chair umpire Gerry Armstrong called a let because Davis wasn’t prepared.

Davis said Curren has a habit of serving when you’re not looking, if he’s down a break point, so he wanted to teach him a lesson.

“If he wants to play little games, I can do it just as much as he can,” Davis said.

Curren’s opportunity to get back came in the fourth game of the third set.

Curren took a short ball and blasted a shot right at the feet of a startled Davis, who received a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct after he said something to Curren.

Davis said Curren was trying to hit him.

“I think it was pretty obvious he went for me,” Davis said. “At that point, I wasn’t going to let him get away with it.”

However angry Davis and Curren were, there was a brief handshake at the end of the match, although they acted as if one another’s hands were covered with toxic waste.

“He’s a smart aleck on the court,” Curren said.

But Davis, who lost a five-set match to Curren at Key Biscayne, Fla., after holding two match points, said Curren is as much to blame.

“When I was getting ready to serve, he stood there and looked down,” Davis said.

“I don’t think anything will carry over, though. We’ve gotten along before . . . who knows, now?”