TENNIS ROUNDUP : Big Hitters and Chang Advance

Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Goran Ivanisevic posted straight-set victories Friday over prototype clay-court specialists to reach the semifinals of the Italian Open.

The other semifinal berth was filled by Michael Chang, who saved two match points in the third set and defeated Andrei Chesnokov, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, in a match lasting 3 hours 38 minutes.

Sampras, top-seeded and the world’s top-ranked player, routed Guillermo Perez-Roldan of Argentina, 6-0, 6-2, in one hour. Courier, the defending champion and second-seeded player, rolled past seventh-seeded Sergi Bruguera of Spain, 6-3, 6-4. Ivanisevic, seeded fourth, downed Marcelo Filippini of Uruguay, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.

In today’s semifinals, Sampras will play Ivanisevic and Courier will face Chang. It’s the first time in the tournament’s 50-year history that three Americans have reached the semifinals.

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Steffi Graf had something to prove at the German Open and Magdalena Maleeva was in the way.

On Tuesday, the top-seeded Graf was humiliated in the first set against fellow German Sabine Hack, 6-0, before battling back to win the match.

On Friday, Graf took only 63 minutes to eliminate the sixth-seeded Maleeva, 6-2, 6-3, and move into the semifinals.

Second-seeded Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina also reached the semifinals by ousting 11th-seeded Anke Huber of Germany, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1.

Sabatini’s semifinal opponent will be fifth-seeded Conchita Martinez in a rematch of last week’s Italian Open final, which the Spaniard won. Martinez routed Brenda Schultz of the Netherlands, 6-1, 6-0.

Mary Joe Fernandez, the only American left in the $750,000 clay-court tournament, was impressive in beating eighth-seeded Nathalie Tauziat of France, 6-3, 6-2.

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Wally Masur of Australia ended Patrick McEnroe’s bid for his first title with a straight-set victory in a quarterfinal match at America’s Red Clay Championship at Coral Springs, Fla.

Masur easily disposed of McEnroe, 6-3, 6-2, and advanced to a semifinal match today against third-seeded Todd Martin, a 6-foot-6 hard server who beat Bryan Shelton, 6-3, 6-4.