Fernandez Reaches Final in Australia

Teen-ager Mary Joe Fernandez, the lone American left in the Australian Open, reached her first Grand Slam final Thursday with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Claudia Porwik of West Germany.

Fernandez, displaying a style reminiscent of Chris Evert -- the last American to reach the Australian finals -- prowled the baseline and ripped passing shots by the net-charging Porwik.

Fernandez, tall and lanky with a braided pony tail and white sweat band around her forehead, raced through the match in just over an hour.

She said knew Porwik was nervous and took advantage of it.

“You could tell after the first couple of games, she was shaking her racket and hitting the ball up,” Fernandez said. “I tried to keep on top of her the whole match.”

“I was a little bit nervous playing in a semifinal for the first time in my life,” Porwik admitted. “But really I think I was just too tired. I was physically tired and mentally tired and made too many mistakes.”

Porwik made 49 unforced errors, 20 more than Fernandez.

Fernandez grew up near Evert in Florida and saw her as a role model. Like Evert, she fashioned her game with a two-fisted backhand and solid groundstrokes.

Fernandez, now 18 and a pro since 14, has grown into a strong, 5-foot-8 player with an increasingly effective net game -- better than Evert’s at the same age.

Though she came forward net against Porwik, Fernandez ended the match at the net with a cross-court backhand volley.

Fernandez reached the semifinals at the French Open last year and is No. 11 in the women’s rankings, 52 spots ahead of Porwik. In their only previous meeting, Fernandez won in three sets on clay in Berlin last year.

Fernandez, who upset No. 3 Zina Garrison in the quarterfinals, will probably face two-time defending champion Steffi Graf in the title match.

Graf, who beat Evert in the finals two years ago, faces Helena Sukova in the other semifinals Thursday. Graf beat Sukova in the finals a year ago and has a 14-1 record against her. The only time Sukova beat Graf was in 1983, when Graf was 13 and Sukova 17.

Fernandez certainly isn’t worried about taking on Graf, who has a 46-match winning streak and owns eight Grand Slam titles. Graf also has won 20 consecutive matches at the Australian Open.

“When I go out there, I go out there to win,” Fernandez said. “I’ve just got to go for it. She’s obviously No. 1 right now and the best player in the world, but there’s going to come a time when she’s going to have to lose.

“It will be difficult. She’s been there so many times. She’s won so many Slam titles. If I do play her, I’ll have to take it to her. You have to forget about it and pretend you’re playing somebody else.

“I’m not one to get hyper,” she said. “Concentration has been one of the best parts of my game since I was a little kid.”

Porwik thought Fernandez would have only a slight chance against Graf. “Steffi has to wait for her chances in the match,” Porwik said. “If Steffi waits for the right points to kill, she will have it easy in two sets. If she doesn’t wait, she can make a few mistakes because Mary Joe hits very deep.”

A wild celebration by serene Swede Stefan Edberg -- he raised both fists and smiled -- punctuated a victory that could help him vault past Boris Becker in the chase for Ivan Lendl’s No. 1 spot.

Edberg, ranked No. 3, said he was “pumped” as he reached the men’s semifinals on Wednesday along with Lendl, the top seed, while No. 2 Becker went bye-bye.

That narrowed the gap between Edberg and Becker in the computer rankings and spoiled Becker’s chances of catching Lendl at least until the French Open.

If Edberg goes on to beat fellow Swede Mats Wilander, Becker’s conqueror, in the semifinals and win the Australian for the third time, he could take over the No. 2 spot and move within striking distance of Lendl.

Edberg may not have an easy time beating Wilander, who whipped precision passing shots through swirling winds against Becker to beat him 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.

That kept Wilander on track for a fourth Australian championship and ended Becker’s bid for a third straight Grand Slam title to go with his Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles.

Lendl will have an equally tough semifinal opponent in Yannick Noah, the diving, leaping Frenchman who beat him in a tuneup tourney two weeks ago in Sydney.

Noah, who will play in his first Grand Slam semifinal since he won the 1983 French Open, scored a 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 victory over Mikael Pernfors.