Evert Leads U.S. Team to Semifinals in Tokyo : Americans to Meet Czechs Saturday in Federation Cup Play

The top-seeded U.S. team, with the “retired” Chris Evert in top form, today beat eighth-seeded Austria 3-0 to move into the semifinals of the Federation Cup women’s tennis tournament.

No. 3 seed Czechoslovakia defeated fifth-seeded West Germany, 2-1 on the hard courts of the Araike Colosseum and will meet the U.S. team Saturday.

Evert, ranked No. 4 in the world following her announced retirement from major tournament tennis, routed 42nd-ranked Judith Wiesner 6-1, 6-0, winning the last 12 games. Martina Navratilova, No. 2, defeated No. 21 Barbara Paulus 6-4, 6-1, giving the United States an unbeatable 2-0 lead over Austria.

Czechs Lead W. Germany

Jana Novotna downed Claudia Kohde-Kilsch 6-3, 6-3, giving Czechoslovakia a 1-0 lead over West Germany.

Steffi Graf reinforced her status as No. 1 women’s tennis player in the world with a 6-2, 6-1 triumph over eighth-ranked Helena Sukova, tying the match 1-1.

In the decisive doubles match, the more experienced pair of Sukova and Novotna beat Graf and Kohde-Kilsch 6-2, 6-2 for Czechoslovakia’s 2-1 victory.

“We don’t play too much together,” Graf said. “The Czech pair is an experienced doubles team. We played our last doubles match at the Seoul Olympics in 1988.”

In the U.S.-Austria match-up, Wiesner broke serve in the first game of the first set as Evert double-faulted.

Evert broke back in the second game as Wiesner double-faulted, then dueled the Austrian from the base line to win the next five games.

In the second set, the 34-year-old Evert trailed 0-30 in the second and fifth games before sweeping the set, giving the United States a 1-0 lead.

In the second singles match, Paulus won the first game of the first set after three deuces.

Paulus then broke serve in the sixth game as Navratilova double-faulted, then held in the seventh game for a 4-3 lead. But Navratilova took the next three games and the set.

Paulus Overwhelmed

Navratilova overwhelmed Paulus with a serve-and-volley attack in the second set, and Paulus won only the fifth game.

In the meaningless doubles, Navratilova teamed with Pam Shriver to beat Paulus and Wiesner 6-1, 6-2.

At Brisbane, Australia, third-seeded Eric Jelen of West Germany was upset by Australian Mark Woodforde 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) in the quarterfinals of the Queensland Open tennis championships today.