TENNIS ROUNDUP : Graf’s Fill-In Helps Germany Win

Germany overcame the absence of Steffi Graf to defeat Italy in the quarterfinals in the Federation Cup Friday at Nottingham, England, setting up a semifinal match today against Spain.

The top-seeded Spanish team won its quarterfinal match against Indonesia with singles victories by Conchita Martinez and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, who struggled to a three-set victory over Yayuk Basuki.

The United States and Czechoslovakia, quarterfinal winners Thursday, meet in the other semifinal.

Barbara Rittner, who won the girls’ singles title in the Wimbledon juniors earlier this month, became a last-minute replacement for Graf, who flew home after aggravating a torn shoulder tendon in a second-round victory over Canada.

Rittner, 18, responded with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 victory over Raffaella Reggi to give the Germans a 1-0 lead. Anke Huber clinched the victory in the best-of-three match by beating Sandra Cecchini, 6-2, 6-3.

Of Rittner, German captain Klaus Hofsass said: “We threw her into the water and found she could swim. It was an unbelievable victory.”

Graf, who will be sidelined for three weeks with the shoulder injury, called Rittner and Huber from her home in Bruhl, Germany, on Thursday to wish them luck.

“I think we both wanted to win for Steffi,” Rittner said.

In Spain’s victory, Martinez beat Suzanna Wibowo, 6-2, 6-0, in 53 minutes. But Sanchez Vicario needed more than two hours to defeat the 40th-ranked Basuki, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Ivan Lendl almost gave away his quarterfinal match to Jim Grabb, but the six-time tournament champion finally won at the Canadian Open in Montreal.

Lendl, the tournament’s top seeded player, endured a 3-hour 6-minute match to beat Grabb, 7-6 (10-8), 6-7 (9-7), 7-5.

In other quarterfinal matches, French Open champion Jim Courier beat Derrick Rostagno, 6-3, 6-3; Petra Korda of Czechoslovakia upset No. 6 Jakob Hlasek of Switzerland, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, and Andrei Chesnokov of the Soviet Union defeated Shuzo Matsuoka of Japan, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.

Second-seeded Karel Novacek of Czechoslovakia defeated Franco Davin of Argentina, 7-6 (7-3), 2-6, 6-2, to advance to the semifinals of the $250,000 Dutch Open tournament at Hilversum.

Novacek, ranked 13th in the world, will face fourth-seeded Magnus Gustafsson, who lost a first-set tiebreaker but rebounded to defeat Marc Rosset of Switzerland, 6-7 (7-3), 6-2, 6-4.

Mark Koevermans of the Netherlands, who upset top-seeded Sergi Bruguera of Spain on Wednesday, will face Jordi Arrese of Spain in today’s other semifinal.