TENNIS ROUNDUP : Edberg Beats Countryman Holm to Reach Indoor Final

Top-seeded Stefan Edberg defeated fellow Swede Henrik Holm, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, Saturday to advance to the final of the Sydney Indoor tournament.

Edberg, the defending champion, will face No. 2 Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia, who advanced when No. 6 Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands retired because of a knee injury trailing, 3-6, 0-1.

Edberg dropped only eight points in his first eight service games against Holm.

But Holm, 24, who improved in the rankings from No. 129 to No. 46 in the past 10 months, fought back to win the second set and even the match.

But while serving at 0-1 in the deciding third set, Holm hit a volley long and let Edberg’s next service return sail past him at the net, only to watch it drop three feet inside the baseline.

Edberg, ranked No. 3, had the deciding break three points later and finished off his compatriot with a backhand pass down the line, then held serve the rest of the way.

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Steffi Graf struggled past Jana Novotna and Martina Navratilova won when Patty Fendick had to quit because of an injury in the semifinals of the European Indoor tournament at Zurich, Switzerland.

The finals matchup will be the first between Graf and Navratilova since Navratilova’s victory in the semifinals of last year’s U.S. Open.

Graf, the top-seeded player and five-time champion, outlasted Novotna, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2).

Navratilova, seeded No. 2, was leading Fendick, 6-3, 4-1, when the unseeded challenger withdrew because of a hamstring injury.

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Top-seeded Petr Korda of Czechoslovakia and No. 2 Guy Forget of France advanced to the finals of the $315,000 Toulouse Open in France.

Korda, a finalist at the French Open in June, defeated Dutchman Jan Siemerink, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

Forget, the defending champion, made a single break stand up in each set in his 6-3, 6-4 victory over countryman Arnaud Boetsch.

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Defending champion Sergi Bruguera and Jordi Arrese, both from Spain, won their matches and will meet in a rematch of last year’s championship in the Athens International tennis tournament in Greece.