TENNIS ROUNDUP : Stich’s Victory Over Lendl Is First of Career

Michael Stich defeated Ivan Lendl for the first time in seven meetings on Friday, scoring a 6-3, 6-3 victory in the quarterfinals of the German Open at Hamburg.

Emilio Sanchez of Spain eliminated seventh-seeded Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands, 6-7 (7-4), 6-3, 6-3. Stich and Sanchez will meet in the semifinals.

The other semifinal will match two unseeded players, Andrei Chesnokov of Russia and Bernd Karbacher of Germany.

Karbacher defeated Magnus Gustafsson of Sweden, 5-7, 7-5, 6-4, and Chesnokov beat Horacio de la Pena of Argentina, 6-2, 6-0.

Stich used a solid serve and a versatile game to keep Lendl off balance, finally breaking a career drought against Lendl, who was seeded third.

“To reach the semifinals is great, but more important, it’s my first win against Lendl,” Stich said. “I was always in control.”

Stich, seeded sixth, is the top seeded player remaining in an upset-filled tournament during which top-10 players Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker and Michael Chang were defeated.

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Conchita Martinez of Spain needed only an hour to upset second-seeded Martina Navratilova, 6-1, 6-4, in the quarterfinals of the Italian Open at Rome.

In the semifinals, the sixth-seeded Martinez will play Mary Joe Fernandez, who defeated Anke Huber, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5).

Italy’s 16-year-old qualifier, Francesa Bentivoglio, was eliminated by Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina, 6-1, 6-1.

Sabatini, seeking her fifth consecutive Italian Open title, needed only a little more than an hour to advance to a match opposite Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, who defeated Jennifer Capriati, 6-2, 6-2.

The crowd of 8,000 that packed center court at the Foro Italico on a misty night loudly cheered the first Italian to reach the quarterfinals since 1989. But it also applauded Sabatini, one of Rome’s favorite players.

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Third-seeded Cal Poly Pomona, seeking its third consecutive championship, defeated Northern Colorado, 9-0, in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II women’s tennis tournament at Industry Hills.

In other matches, top-seeded UC Davis defeated Pace, 9-0, second-seeded Cal Poly San Luis Obispo eliminated Cal State Bakersfield, 6-3, and unseeded Abilene Christian upset fourth-seeded Grand Canyon, 5-4.

In today’s semifinals, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (21-8) will play Abilene Christian (14-6) at 9 a.m. and Cal Poly Pamona (13-7) will meet UC Davis (21-3) at 1 p.m.