TENNIS ROUNDUP : Australia Advances in Davis Cup

Australia became the third team to qualify for the Davis Cup semifinals on Sunday, while France and India played until darkness to leave their quarterfinal series undecided until today.

Australia’s Richard Fromberg swept Stefano Pescosolido in straight sets in the deciding match to secure a 3-2 victory over Italy at Florence.

Trailing, 2-1, after Saturday’s doubles, Italy pulled even when last-minute substitute Paolo Cane stunned Mark Woodforde, 6-2, 1-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Cane, ranked 183rd in the world, took advantage of numerous unforced errors by the 23rd-ranked Australian on the clay courts of the Cascine tennis club.

Australia, which defeated defending champion United States in March, then called on Fromberg to save the series.

The 40th-ranked Fromberg had little trouble, beating Pescosolido with cross-court passing shots and deep strokes to the Italian’s backhand, winning, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1, 6-4.

But the series to decide Australia’s next opponent was still unresolved when the sun set in Frejus, France, leaving France’s Rodolphe Gilbert and India’s Ramesh Krishnan tied in the fifth set.

India, trailing France, 2-1, going into Sunday’s play, evened the score when Leander Paes upset Arnaud Boetsch, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4. It will be completed today.

Henri Leconte was scheduled to play against Krishnan next, but a recurring back problem prevented Leconte from playing.

Gilbert was named to replace Leconte, and he and Krishnan dueled for more than four hours before play was halted with the score, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, 5-7, 4-4.

Elsewhere in quarterfinal action, Sweden and Germany registered 4-1 victories over the Netherlands and the team from former Czechoslovakia.

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Ivan Lendl, struggling as he prepares for the U.S. Open, beat Todd Martin in a third-set tiebreaker night to win the U.S. Pro Championships at Brookline, Mass.

Lendl, the top-seeded player at Longwood Cricket Club, won, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), becoming the first player to win the tournament in consecutive years since 1978. Martin, seeded fourth, broke Lendl in the 12th game to take the first set.

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Top-seeded Anke Huber of Germany spoiled local favorite Judith Wiesner’s bid for an upset Sunday, scoring a 6-4, 6-1 victory in the final of the Austrian Open women’s tennis tournament.

Huber needed only 1 hour 7 minutes to beat the fifth-seeded Wiesner before a partisan crowd in the Casino Stadium.

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Unseeded Natalia Medvedeva of Ukraine beat Germany’s Meike Babel, 6-3, 6-2, to win the Prague Open women’s tournament.

Medvedeva broke Babel in the first game of the second set and was in control the rest of the way.

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Cris Robinson of Clemson rallied to win five consecutive games in the last set and beat Eric Brunner of Arizona State, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, in the USTA National Amateur Clay Court men’s championship at Mount Lebanon, Pa.