TENNIS ROUNDUP : Capriati Loses to Wiesner, but U.S. Still Wins in Federation Cup

Jennifer Capriati lost, Steffi Graf dropped out and Monica Seles was put on notice.

The United States stayed alive despite Capriati’s loss when Zina Garrison and Gigi Fernandez defeated Judith Wiesner and Petra Ritter, 6-4, 6-1, for a 2-1 victory over Austria in the Federation Cup Thursday at Nottingham, England.

Wiesner saved two match points to upset Capriati, 6-2, 0-6, 8-6, in the opening singles contest, but Mary Joe Fernandez beat Barbara Paulus, 6-1, 6-1, to square the match.

“When I saw that I could come back from two match points, I had a lot of confidence that I could win,” Wiesner said. “I decided not to risk too much and to come in when I could. She never knew what I was going to do.”

Said Capriati: “I thought she played really well. I wasn’t hitting the ball too great.”

The United States advanced to a semifinal Saturday against Czechoslovakia, which got singles victories from Radka Zrubakova and Jana Novotna in a 2-1 victory over Switzerland.

Graf, ranked No. 2, was forced to pull out because of a torn tendon in her right shoulder, suffered Wednesday. She will be sidelined three weeks. Barbara Rittner will take Graf’s place in singles with Anke Huber when Germany faces Italy in one of today’s quarterfinals.

Top-seeded Spain, led by Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Conchita Martinez, faces Indonesia in today’s other quarterfinal.

Top-ranked Seles was given until Aug. 5 to produce a doctor’s note explaining her late withdrawal from the Federation Cup. Without a medical certificate, she could be barred from the 1992 Summer Olympics.

John McEnroe was at it again, throwing two temper tantrums that cost him a key point in a 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5) loss to Derrick Rostagno in the third round of the Canadian Open at Montreal.

The match was at 5-5 in the third set when it was suspended because of rain. When play resumed, the seventh-seeded McEnroe lost control after two service calls during the tiebreaker. McEnroe used profanity when arguing with the umpire, according to Tennis Canada officials. He was first warned, then penalized a point, which allowed the 10th-seeded Rostagno to advance to the quarterfinals.

“It was ridiculous. I’ve never been involved in a match that ended like that,” Rostagno said. “It doesn’t really feel like a win.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” McEnroe said.

Rostagno will face second-seeded Jim Courier, who defeated No. 16 Amos Mansdorf 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Top-seeded Ivan Lendl moved into the quarterfinals with a lackluster 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Wally Masur of Australia.

Lendl had 13 aces but double faulted eight times.

Shuzo Matsuoka of Japan defeated 13th-seeded Patrick McEnroe, 6-4, 6-3; No. 12 Andrei Chesnokov of the Soviet Union eliminated Stefano Pescosolido of Italy, 6-4, 6-4, and sixth-seeded Jacob Hlasek of Switzerland defeated Simon Youl of Australia, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.

Mark Koevermans of the Netherlands defeated Renzo Furlan of Italy, 6-1, 6-1, in the quarterfinals of the $250,000 Dutch Open at Hilversum, the Netherlands.

Koevermans, ranked 50th in the world, earlier upset top-seeded Sergi Bruguera of Spain.

Jordi Arresi of Spain defeated Thomas Muster of Austria, 6-4, 6-1; second-seeded Karel Novacek of Czechoslovakia beat Cedric Pioline of France, 6-4, 6-4, and Franco Davin of Argentina overcame Thierry Champion of France, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.