TENNIS ROUNDUP : Edberg, Lendl to Meet in Australian Semifinals

Top-seeded Stefan Edberg and third-seeded Ivan Lendl advanced to a semifinal meeting at the Australian Indoor championships Friday at Sydney. Edberg beat David Wheaton, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2), and Lendl topped Peter Lundgren, 6-2, 7-6 (6-3).

In other matches, second-seeded Boris Becker defeated eighth-seeded Richey Reneberg, 6-4, 6-4, and Todd Woodbridge ousted Grant Connell, 7-6 (7-2), 2-6, 6-1.

Woodbridge, a 19-year-old playing in his home state of New South Wales, finds himself in some exclusive company. He has reached the semifinals of only one other tournament, the Volvo International in New Haven, Conn., in August.

Lendl and Edberg have been playing doubles together this week, and of today’s match, Lendl said: “With all due respect to this tournament, this is not a Grand Slam. I can’t get used to getting up for matches at this time of year, but I always enjoy playing Stefan and Boris Becker because it helps me see how I stack up against them for future Grand Slams.”

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain beat Judith Wiesner of Austria, 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (7-9), 6-2, to reach the semifinals of the $500,000 Nokia Masters tournament at Essen, Germany.

Organizers first said that Anke Huber of Germany had also advanced when Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere dropped out of the tournament because of an injury.

But they later said that Martina Navratilova and Jana Novotna will advance from Huber’s group, regardless of the outcome of their match.

Franco Davin of Argentina used an overpowering backhand to upset countryman Guillermo Perez-Roldan, 6-3, 6-1, and move into the semifinals of the Athens International Championship.

Marian Vadja of Czechoslovakia advanced with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Spain’s Tomas Carbonell.