TENNIS ROUNDUP : Edberg, Sampras Will Meet in ATP Semifinal

Stefan Edberg and Pete Sampras advanced to a semifinal match in the $1.4-million ATP Championship with straight-set victories at Mason, Ohio, on Friday.

Edberg defeated Jim Grabb, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), and Sampras beat fifth-seeded Petr Korda of Czechoslovakia, 6-3, 6-3.

Eighth-seeded Ivan Lendl advanced with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over David Wheaton in a match interrupted for 32 minutes by rain. Wheaton beat Jim Courier on Thursday but was no match for Lendl.

“I’ve been struggling for a year and a half now, and just since Wimbledon I started playing better,” Lendl said.

Fourth-seeded Michael Chang was leading Jaime Yzaga of Peru, 4-1, in the first set when rain forced a postponement until today.

Edberg, a two-time ATP Championship winner and the No. 2 seeded player this year, hasn’t lost a set in three matches. Sampras has struggled, barely surviving Thursday’s three-set match with Australian Mark Woodforde, but seemed to suddenly find himself.

“I was completely two different people,” Sampras said, comparing his play Thursday with his match Friday. He blamed his problems early in the week on too much clay-court activity at the expense of hard-court play.

“I haven’t been playing that well all week, and I was just hoping my hard-court game would come around,” Sampras said.

Edberg, who has been plagued by inconsistency this year, said his serve has been good this week but he fears it could go bad. “That’s been the problem this year. I’ve served well for a couple of matches and then let down,” Edberg said.

David Rikl of Czechoslovakia reached the semifinals of an ATP event for the first time, defeating Australia’s Richard Fromberg, 6-0, 6-3, in the Czechoslovak Open at Prague.

In other quarterfinals, Guillermo Perez-Roldan of Argentina defeated Vladimir Gabrichidze of Georgia, 6-3, 6-0, and Karel Novacek of Czechoslovakia defeated Diego Perez of Uruguay, 6-3, 6-2.