TENNIS ROUNDUP : Wheaton, Garrison Win Singles

David Wheaton defeated Petr Korda 6-4, 6-2 and Zina Garrison beat Regina Rajchrtova 6-4, 6-4 today as the United States advanced the semifinals of the Hopman Cup team tennis tournament with a 2-1 victory over Czechoslovakia.

Korda and Rajchrtova recovered to beat the American pair 8-1 in a mixed doubles match that was reduced to one professional set after the top-seeded United States clinched the match with a 2-0 lead.

“I think it was tough for both Zina and me, because we hadn’t played for a while,” Wheaton said. “I certainly felt a little out of it.”

Garrison was returning to tennis after a monthlong vacation. “I’m only just getting back into the flow of tennis after not playing since the Virginia Slims championship a month ago,” she said.

The United States will face the Swiss team of Jakob Hlasek and Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere in the semifinals on Wednesday.

Akiko Kijimuta of Japan beat comeback-minded Pam Shriver 6-4, 6-2 today in the first round of the Danone Open at Brisbane, Australia.

Kijimuta repeatedly hit passing shots past Shriver, playing her first tournament in nine months after undergoing surgery on her right shoulder.

Shriver, once the third-ranked player in the world and the winner of 21 Grand Slam doubles titles during her 13-year professional career, said she wasn’t downhearted by the loss. “My comeback is a 12- to 18-month project,” she said.

At Adelaide, Australia, second-seeded Jim Courier of Dade City, Fla., beat Alexander Mronz of Germany 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 in the first round of the Australian Hardcourt tennis championship.