Spain in Federation Semifinals

Two 17-year-olds led Spain to its first appearance in the semifinals of the Federation Cup women’s tennis tournament today, and Bulgaria’s fourth-seeded Maleeva sisters lost their way under a hot late-summer sun.

Spaniards Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Conchita Martinez turned around their team’s loss to the Soviet Union in last year’s Federation Cup, the women’s version of the Davis Cup, by winning their singles matches. The sixth-seeded Soviet team won its doubles match against the second-seeded Spaniards, but that only cut the victory margin to 2-1.

The Australian team downed Bulgaria, 2-1, to gain a spot in the semifinals against Spain.

Rallies for Victory

Spain’s Sanchez Vicario, ranked fifth in the world, trailed 4-1 against Soviet Natalie Zvereva, ranked 14th, before rallying for a 7-5, 6-3 victory. After a grueling 65-minute first set, Zvereva appeared to tire from the exchanges of powerful backhands and long volleys.

“She was probably more prepared than me mentally for the match,” Zvereva said. “That’s probably the main reason she won.”

“I started by hitting the ball to the middle of the court, but my opponent played very well,” Sanchez Vicario said. “So then I changed my strategy and hit the ball longer.”

Spain’s Martinez then overpowered the Soviet Union’s Larissa Savchencko 6-1, 6-1 before Zvereva and Savchencko downed Martinez and Sanchez Vicario 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 in the meaningless doubles.

Bulgaria’s Katerina Maleeva overpowered Australia’s Elizabeth Smylie 6-2, 6-1 in an opening singles match, but older sister Manuela, ranked seventh in the world, lost to Anne Minter 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

There were six service breaks in the eight-game second set.

Thirty minutes later, the Maleeva sisters were back on court under the blazing sun battling Smylie and Janine Thompson in the deciding doubles match. By the end of the match, the Bulgarians wilted and the 10th-seeded Australians won eight consecutive games for a 5-7, 6-4, 6-0 victory.

“After we lost the singles, that put a lot of pressure on us,” Smylie said. “We were probably too tense. After we loosened up, that’s when we played our best tennis.”

In Friday’s second day of quarterfinal matches, the top-seeded U.S. team takes on eighth-seeded Austria, and defending champion Czechoslovakia plays fifth-seeded West Germany.