TENNIS ROUNDUP : Chang Beats Cash, Faces Edberg in Japan Open

Michael Chang beat Pat Cash of Australia, 6-4, 6-1, Friday to advance to the semifinals of the Japan Open at Tokyo.

Chang will face top-seeded Stefan Edberg in today’s semifinals. Edberg advanced by beating Michael Stich of Germany, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

Ivan Lendl, hitting 10 aces, overwhelmed Jakob Hlasek of Switzerland, 6-1, 6-4, and will face Jim Courier today.

Courier, continuing his streak of outstanding tennis, ousted John McEnroe, 6-2, 6-2.

Courier got 73% of his first serves in and, rapidly firing both shots and serves, broke the second and eighth games of the first set.

“I served well and returned well,” Courier said. “I always went ahead of him and that was good for me. I played better than usual.”

McEnroe said he was unable to put pressure on Courier.

“I could not win a point when I wanted to,” he said.

Chang said he is looking forward to his meeting with Edberg, a four-time winner of the Japan Open.

“It’s going to be a tough and close match,” the fifth-seeded Chang said.

Lori McNeil, seeded seventh, made it into the women’s final with a hard-fought, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 victory over fifth-seeded Laura Gildemeister.

Second-seeded Sabine Appelmans of Belgium will be McNeil’s opponent in the final. Appelmans beat Japanese qualifier Rika Hiraki, 6-4, 6-4.

Third-seeded Andre Agassi was ousted in the quarterfinals of the Count of Godo tournament at Barcelona, losing a 2 1/2-hour match to Guillermo Perez Roldan of Argentina, 6-0, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-3).

Emilio Sanchez Vicario, seeded seventh, had to go three sets to fend off Omar Camporese of Italy, 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 7-5.

Spanish champion Sergi Bruguera, buoyed by his earlier upset over top-seeded Boris Becker, moved into the semifinals with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Soviet Andrei Chesnokov. Bruguera won the Estoril Open last week.

Argentine Martin Jaite, who won this tournament in 1987, defeated Veli Paloheimo of Finland, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, in the other quarterfinal.

Steffi Graf and Gabriela Sabatini, the two top seeded players in the Bausch & Lomb Championships at Amelia Island, Fla., advanced to the semifinals of the $350,000 clay-court tournament at Amelia Island, Fla.

Graf, who won the U.S. Hardcourt Championships two weeks ago for her first title in five months, routed Natalia Zvereva, 6-0, 6-2.

Sabatini, who has won three of her past four tournaments, defeated Helena Sukova, 6-2, 6-1.

Graf will face Patty Fendick in today’s semifinals. Fendick pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament, beating fourth-seeded Zina Garrison, 6-1, 6-4.

Garrison is ranked No. 8 in the world, Fendick No. 72.

Sabatini, 23-1 since losing in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, will meet either Arantxa Sanchez Vicario or Leila Meskhi, who played later Friday night.

The No. 2-ranked USC men’s tennis team figures to move up to No. 1 after scoring its second consecutive victory over top-ranked UCLA, 6-0, at USC.

Last week, the Trojans beat the Bruins, 5-2.

The Trojans are 24-1 overall and 8-2 in the Pacific 10. The Bruins are 24-2 and 6-2.

USC’s No. 1 player, senior Byron Black, playing his final match at USC’s Marks Stadium, defeated Mark Knowles, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.