TENNIS ROUNDUP : Stich Upsets Edberg at Hamburg

Crowd favorite Michael Stich upset Stefan Edberg, the world’s top-ranked player, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), Friday to move into the semifinals of the $1-million German Open at Hamburg.

About 10,000 fans applauded loudly after every shot in a show of support for Stich, who lives in Munich but was born in a small town outside Hamburg.

Stich, seeded ninth, got off to a quick start, moving ahead to 3-0 in the first set in only 12 minutes.

In the second set, Edberg tried to step up the pressure and broke Stich to move ahead 2-0, then 4-1. But Stich broke back twice, taking the score to 5-5.

Both players held serve to take the set to 6-6.

Stich, ranked 15th by the ATP computer, kept his poise and came back in the tiebreaker with well-placed first serves and quick volleys.

In other action, Goran Prpic of Yugoslavia defeated countryman Goran Ivanisevic, 7-5, 0-3, after Ivanisevic quit. Ivanisevic was said to be suffering from an injury, but no details were given.

Karel Novacek of Czechoslovakia and Magnus Gustafsson also moved into the semifinals. Novacek outlasted Mark Koevermans of the Netherlands, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, and Gustafsson defeated Yannick Noah of France, 6-1, 6-4.

Top-seeded Monica Seles of Yugoslavia and second-seeded Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina advanced to the semifinals of the Italian Open with easy victories.

Seles beat Leila Meskhi of the Soviet Union, 6-0, 6-1, and Sabatini defeated Jennifer Capriati, 6-0, 6-2.

But Martina Navratilova, seeded third, lost to Conchita Martinez of Spain, 6-3, 6-4.

In today’s semifinals, Seles faces fourth-seeded Mary Joe Fernandez, who beat Argentina’s Bettina Fulco, 6-3, 6-2.

Seventh-seeded Jaime Yzaga pulled out a 7-6, 6-1 victory over top-seeded Michael Chang in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Clay Court Championship at Charlotte, N.C.

Chang, ranked 10th in the world, was coming off a hard-fought match Thursday in which he beat Bryan Shelton, 6-7, 6-4, 7-5.

In other quarterfinal action, fifth-seeded Jimmy Arias beat Richey Reneberg, 6-4, 6-2.

UCLA continued in pursuit of its first NCAA women’s championship with a 5-2 quarterfinal victory over No. 11 California at Stanford to move into today’s semifinals against No. 1 Florida.

However, No. 5 Pepperdine was eliminated by No. 3 Georgia, 5-1.

“I was satisfied with the way we played, but we just didn’t win the crucial games or points,” Pepperdine Coach Gualberto Escudero said. “If our breaks came, we would have won more than the one match we did. Had we won more than one, our doubles teams are very strong. And (we) still would have had a chance.”

If a team wins at least five the singles matches, doubles matches are not played.

UCLA (22-4) won four of six singles matches, including a 6-3, 6-3 victory from its No. 1 player, sophomore Kimberly Po, over Lisa Albano, who is ranked seventh nationally. Po is ranked 17th.

In other quarterfinals, No. 2 Stanford routed No. 8 Arizona, 6-0, and Florida beat No. 9 Duke, 5-1.