TENNIS ROUNDUP : Martin Ends Wilander’s Run on Clay

Top-seeded Todd Martin overcame his own mistakes as well as a determined Mats Wilander on Saturday to take a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 victory in the semifinals of the USTA Clay Court Classic at Pinehurst, N.C.

Martin, the only seeded player left in the field, will face Jared Palmer, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Mark Woodforde, in the final today.

Wilander nearly proved himself to be a prophet in the match. He was hoping that he could force a three-set showdown so that he could wear Martin down. Although he did force that third set--the match went 2 hours 17 minutes--Martin regained his flagging composure and twice came back from the brink of trouble.

“I played a poor second set and he played a very good second set,” Martin said.

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Martina Navratilova might be ready to retire, but she showed she still has the stuff to win on clay as she volleyed her way into the final of the Italian Open at Rome.

Navratilova, seeded second at 37, trounced 20-year-old Irina Spirlea of Romania, 6-2, 6-3, in 66 minutes.

In today’s title match, Navratilova will face top-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain, who crushed Karina Habsudova, a qualifier from Slovakia, 6-1, 6-2.

Navratilova, who has announced she’s quitting the singles tour at the end of the year, has not won a clay-court tournament since Hilton Head Island, S.C., in 1990.

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Young Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov continued his meteoric rise by defeating defending German Open champion Michael Stich, 6-3, 6-4, to reach the finals at Hamburg.

His opponent in today’s final will be his childhood friend, Ukraine’s Andrei Medvedev, 19, who ousted Spain’s Javier Sanchez, 6-4, 6-1.

Kafelnikov, 20, charged back from a 4-2 deficit in the second set to add the top-seeded German to his growing list of prominent victims at the $1.72-million tournament.

“He’s probably mad at me,” Kafelnikov said. “I’ve beaten him four straight times.”