TENNIS ROUNDUP : Edberg Rallies to Reach Semifinals in Hamburg

Top-seeded Stefan Edberg of Sweden struggled into the semifinals at the rain-plagued ATP German Open at Hamburg, defeating Omar Camporese of Italy, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, Friday.

Edberg will face unseeded Carlos Costa of Spain, who beat unseeded Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, for his second victory of the day.

The remaining quarterfinal matches--second-seeded Boris Becker of Germany against defending champion Karel Novacek of Czechoslovakia and third-seeded Michael Stich of Germany against Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands--were rescheduled for today after long interruptions because of rain and hail Thursday and Friday.

Edberg played poorly, but Camporese played worse.

Edberg’s serve-and-volley style didn’t function well on the slow, sandy surface. He repeatedly gave away serves and break points in the first set, landing them in the net.

But Edberg gained momentum in the tiebreaker and put on the pressure in the third set.

Haarhuis and Costa both put in double shifts because of Thursday’s rain delays.

Haarhuis ousted the last American in the tournament, fourth-seeded Michael Chang, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (10-8), before facing Costa. Earlier, Costa defeated Olivier Delaitre of France, 6-2, 6-3.

Monica Seles and Gabriela Sabatini stayed on course for another championship-match meeting with straight-set victories in the Italian Open at Rome.

In one of today’s semifinals, Sabatini will meet Mary Joe Fernandez, who mounted an impressive comeback against Anke Huber of Germany, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2) 6-3.

Seles, the world’s top-ranked woman, defeated 10th-seeded Leila Meskhi, 6-1, 6-4, in just over an hour to reach the semifinals. Sabatini, the defending champion, had an even easier time, defeating No. 7 Nathalie Tauziat of France, 6-0, 6-1, to the delight of a large rooting section of Italian and Argentine fans.

Seles, beaten by Sabatini in the finals last year, will meet South Africa’s Amanda Coetzer in the other semifinal. Coetzer, seeded 16th, defeated No. 14 Natalia Zvereva, 6-2, 6-3.