TENNIS ROUNDUP : Shaken by Stabbing, Graf Struggles in Victory

A day after the stabbing of rival Monica Seles, a visibly affected Steffi Graf struggled to a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Jana Novotna Saturday in the semifinals of the Citizen Cup tournament at Hamburg, Germany.

Spain’s Arantxa Sanchez Vicario won the other semifinal, defeating Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria, 6-2, 7-6 (6-4).

Maleeva was playing Seles on Friday when the world’s top-ranked woman player was stabbed by a man who leaned out of the stands during a changeover. Police said the man told them that he was a Graf fan.

Graf visited Seles in the hospital Saturday before going to the stadium. She obviously was not herself during her match with Novotna, committing numerous errors.

Afterward, Graf choked back tears as she told of an emotional visit with Seles. Graf said she slept little after hearing about the attack and would not have played if Seles’ injury had been worse.

Pete Sampras, the world’s top-ranked player, was upset by No. 87-ranked Jacco Eltingh of the Netherlands, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, in the semifinals of the $300,000 AT&T; Challenge at Atlanta.

Eltingh, who ended Sampras’ 19-match winning streak, will play Bryan Shelton in the first clay-court final for both. Shelton defeated Jared Palmer, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1.

Top-seeded Stefan Edberg of Sweden defeated Emilio Sanchez of Spain, 6-0, 7-5, in the semifinals of the City of Madrid Grand Prix.

In today’s final, Edberg will play Sergi Bruguera, who advanced with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over fellow Spaniard Tomas Carbonell.

Ivan Lendl reached the final of the BMW Open at Munich, Germany, when Cedric Pioline of France withdrew from their semifinal because of a thigh injury.

Michael Stich of Germany advanced with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Jose-Francesco Altur of Spain.