TENNIS ROUNDUP : Sabatini Defeats Graf in Tokyo

Gabriela Sabatini and Steffi Graf struggled through 2 1/2 hours and a third-set tiebreaker Friday before the Argentine defeated the top-seeded German, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), in the quarterfinals of the Pan Pacific Open.

Martina Navratilova, seeded third and playing her first tournament since knee surgery in November, made short work of American compatriot Robin White, winning, 6-2, 6-3, on the artificial surface at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gym.

In other quarterfinal matches, No. 4 Mary Joe Fernandez defeated Japan’s wild-card entry Nana Miyagi, 6-0, 6-2, and No. 7 Laura Gildemeister beat Kathy Rinaldi, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Sabatini plays Fernandez and Navratilova plays Gildemeister in the semifinals today.

Sabatini’s victory was her first against the No. 1 player in the world since winning the U.S. Open last year. Graf leads the series, 20-6.

Sabatini said it was one of the best matches the two had ever played. “I kept putting pressure on her and played aggressively even when I was down,” she said.

Boris Becker, fresh from his victory in the Australian Open, won in Germany’s first Davis Cup match since reunification and Sweden’s Stefan Edberg lost as the 1991 tournament began despite several postponements because of the Persian Gulf War.

Two World Group matches, the United States at Mexico and Israel at France, were postponed because of the threat of terrorism. They were tentatively rescheduled for March 29-31.

Despite Becker’s 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Paolo Cane, Germany was tied with Italy after the first two singles matches at Dortmund, Germany. Omar Camporese of Italy defeated Michael Stich, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1, 6-3.

Edberg’s loss was one of two for Sweden at Zagreb, Yugoslavia. Goran Prpic beat Edberg, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2, and Goran Ivanisevic knocked off Jonas Svensson, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Andrea Strnadova of Czechoslovakia upset eighth-seeded Larisa Savchenko of the Soviet Union, 6-4, 6-1, to reach the semifinals of a $100,000 women’s tournament at Auckland, New Zealand.