TENNIS ROUNDUP : U.S. Needs Doubles to Beat Czechs

Zina Garrison and Gigi Fernandez defeated Jana Novotna and Regina Rajchrtova in the deciding doubles match, 7-6 (10-8), 6-4, and the United States downed Czechoslovakia, 2-1, Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Federation Cup at Norcross, Ga.

The top-seeded U.S. team moves into the semifinals Saturday against No. 3 Austria, which defeated Great Britain, 2-1.

Jennifer Capriati beat Rajchrtova, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), in the opening match before Novotna upset Garrison, 6-3, 6-3.

The Czechs were playing without injured Helena Sukova, their No. 1 player.

Novotna, exhausted by her victory over Garrison, was unable to make up for the loss of Sukova. She double-faulted to lose the first set in a 10-8 tiebreaker and then was broken in the key ninth game of the second set.

In another quarterfinal, Judith Wiesner and Barbara Paulus of Austria scored three-set victories. Wiesner struggled past Sarah Loosemore of Britain, 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 8-6, and Paulus beat Jo Durie, 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 6-4.

In today’s quarterfinals, second-seeded Spain meets fifth-seeded France and third-seeded Soviet Union takes on the Netherlands.

Top-seeded Andre Agassi beat Darren Cahill of Australia, 6-2, 6-4, in the Player’s International at Toronto and advanced to the quarterfinals against Michael Chang.

The seventh-seeded Chang ousted No. 9 David Wheaton, 6-0, 6-3, to set up a rematch of this year’s French Open semifinals, won by Agassi.

In other third-round matches, John McEnroe beat Amos Mansdorf of Israel, 6-3, 6-4; Pete Sampras defeated Andrew Sznajder of Canada, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Jakob Hlasek of Switzerland ousted Jimmy Arias, 7-5, 6-1; Todd Witsken eliminated Ramesh Krishnan of India, 6-4, 6-4; sixth-seeded Tim Mayotte beat Richey Reneberg, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, and Jay Berger downed Derrick Rostagno, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.