TENNIS ROUNDUP : Maleeva-Fragniere Topples Navratilova in Japan

Fifth-seeded Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere upset top-seeded Martina Navratilova today to advance to the semifinals of the Nichirei International Ladies Tennis Championships in Tokyo.

Maleeva-Fragniere, ranked ninth in the world, beat Navratilova, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. After losing her first seven matches against Navratilova, the Bulgarian-born Maleeva-Fragniere has rebounded with a two-match winning streak. She beat Navratilova in the U.S. Open, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.

“I played spotty,” Navratilova said. “I was good for two minutes, then bad for three minutes.”

Maleeva-Fragniere’s well-placed passing shots forced Navratilova to stay back on the baseline and deprived her of opportunities at the net.

“In the past three years I had hard training aimed at playing more aggressively and gaining physicial strength,” Maleeva-Fragniere said. “I think it’s paid off now.”

In the other quarterfinal match, fourth-seeded Mary Joe Fernandez defeated Helena Sukova, 6-3, 6-4.

Maleeva-Fragniere faces Fernandez and third-seeded Katerina Maleeva, Maleeva-Fragniere’s younger sister, plays eighth-seeded Amy Frazier in the semifinals Saturday.

Brad Gilbert and Aaron Krickstein advanced today to the semifinals of the Queensland Open in Brisbane, Australia.

Gilbert, the top seed, defeated Carl Limberger, 6-2, 6-4, and Krickstein beat Eric Jelen, 6-2, 6-1.

Gilbert will face Carl-Uwe Steeb in the semifinals. Steeb beat defending champion Niclas Kroon, 7-5, 7-5.

Unheralded Scott Melville of California defeated French veteran Yannick Noah, 7-6 (9-7), 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, in the quarterfinals of the $500,000 Swiss Indoor tennis tournament Friday.

Melville, 24, said he made it into the Basel tournament as a qualifier “by luck.” He is ranked 322nd in the world.

Arantxa Sanchez overcame Andrea Strnadova, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-1, in a quarterfinal match of the women’s tournament in Leipzig, East Germany.

West German Anke Huber, ranked 61st in the world, upset top-seeded Zina Garrison, 7-5, 6-3, and advanced to the semifinals of the Bayonne women’s tournament in France.

Huber will play Catherine Tanvier, a 7-5, 6-4 quarterfinal winner over Pascale Pardis.