Arias Upsets No. 6 Seed in Aussie Tourney

Unseeded American Jimmy Arias advanced to the semifinals of the Australian Hardcourt tennis championships today with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over sixth-seeded Mark Koevermans of the Netherlands.

Arias will play Jean Fleurian of France in Saturday’s semifinal. Fleurian defeated Jerome Potier of France 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.

Arias, once ranked fifth in the world, has slipped to 88th on the Assn. of Tennis Professionals computer. He did not make the semifinals of any event last year.

“You have other things on your mind the older you get, but I want to get the desire back,” the 25-year-old Arias said. “I want to make one more climb up the ladder.”

Arias and Fleurian were joined in the semifinals by top-seeded Sergi Bruguera of Spain and Austrian Thomas Muster, the third seed.

At Brisbane, Australia, Judith Wiesner of Austria and Natalia Zvereva of the Soviet Union advanced to the semifinals of the $150,000 Danone Queensland Open women’s tennis championship today with quarterfinal victories over the top two seeds.

Zvereva defeated top-seeded Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia 6-3, 6-4 and Wiesner beat second-seeded Jana Novotna of Czechoslovakia 7-6 (8-6), 6-3.

Wiesner faces Rachel McQuillan of Australia and Zvereva will play Brenda Schultz of the Netherlands in Saturday’s semifinals.