TENNIS ROUNDUP : Sabatini Makes It Look Easy

Defending champion Gabriel Sabatini won her warm-up Friday and turned her second match into little more than that in advancing to the semifinals at the Family Circle Magazine Cup.

Sabatini began the day at Hilton Head, S.C., by ending her match with Amanda Coetzer that was suspended because of darkness Thursday with Sabatini leading 7-5, 5-3. Coetzer held serve, then so did Sabatini, who advanced to the quarterfinals in eight minutes.

There, the Argentina native made quick work of Canadian Patricia Hy, 6-2, 6-3.

Sabatini, ranked No. 3 in the world, will play 12th-seeded Brenda Schultz of the Netherlands in the semifinals today. Schultz defeated Caroline Kuhlman of Lakeside Park, Ky., 6-3, 6-1.

The loss ended an impressive run by Kuhlman, the first qualifier in 10 years--and the fifth ever--to make the quarterfinals.

The other semifinal features two Spaniards, third-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and No. 5 Conchita Martinez.

Sanchez Vicario, ranked fifth in the world, defeated 14th-ranked Leila Meshki of Georgia, 6-3, 6-3, to advance to the semifinals for the third time in four years.

The eighth-ranked Martinez, trying to make the final in her third consecutive tournament, defeated Natalia Zvereva of Belarus, 6-2, 6-2.

Jordi Arrese of Spain upset top-seeded Ivan Lendl, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, in a quarterfinal match at the Estoril Open at Lisbon.

Lendl, serving to stay in the match at 5-6 in the third set, made a series of unforced errors and finally lost to Arrese by sending a lob outside the baseline.

Defending champion Sergi Bruguera of Spain, seeded No. 4, advanced to a semifinal match with Arrese after a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Portuguese Joao Cunha e Silva.

Emilio Sanchez of Spain eliminated unseeded Frederic Fontang of France, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4).