TENNIS ROUNDUP : Courier Reaches Semifinals in Italy

Jim Courier was the only American to survive Friday’s quarterfinals of the Italian Open in Rome.

Courier, the No. 1 seeded player, struggled with his game and the slippery court conditions but defeated Christian Miniussi of Argentina, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Pete Sampras, seeded second, blew several leads and lost to No. 8 Petr Korda of Czechoslovakia, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3. Sampras was leading, 5-3, in the second set, 4-0 in the tiebreaker and 3-1 in the third set.

Michael Chang, seeded fifth, lost to Carl-Uwe Steeb of Germany, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.

Carlos Costa of Spain, who has already won two clay-court tournaments this spring, earned the last semifinal berth by beating Jaime Yzaa of Peru, 6-4, 6-0.

Courier will play Steeb, and Korda will face Costa today.

Courier, the world’s No. 1-ranked player, had trouble with his footing on the red clay in the first set against Miniussi, who is ranked No. 65 in the world.

“The court was all bare--hot, dry and caking,” Courier said. “I couldn’t change directions. As he was dictating play, I couldn’t set my feet to hit the ball the way I wanted.”

Miniussi held a break point at 4-4 in the second set, putting him within sight of a major upset. But he was unable to convert a backhand volley, and Courier held serve for 5-4. He then broke Miniussi in the next game when Miniussi double-faulted on set point.

Sampras also was hurt by serving, which included eight double faults.

“I definitely had the match in my hands,” he said. “It was up to me to win. I let it slip away. I live and die by my serve--maybe too much.”

Korda also defeated Sampras in Davis Cup play in Ft. Myers, Fla., earlier this year.

Steffi Graf of Germany took only 45 minutes to defeat Julie Halard of France, 6-1, 6-0, in the quarterfinals of the Berlin Open.

The other favorites still competing won almost as easily to advance to the semifinals.

Third-seeded Jennifer Capriati of Saddlebrook, Fla., after struggling in the early rounds, eliminated Radka Zrubakova of Czechoslovakia, 6-3, 7-5, and will play Graf next.

Mary Joe Fernandez of Miami, seeded fourth, defeated Sandra Cecchini of Italy, 6-1, 7-6, and second-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain routed Sabine Appelmans of Belgium, 6-0, 6-3.