STEFAN Edberg turned on the heat in the relative cool of a Melbourne
evening to power into the semi-finals of the Australian Open. The
fourth-seeded Swede -- runner-up in the past two years -- gave a
faultless display of serve-and-volley tennis to dispatch Austrian Thomas
Muster 6-2,
6-3, 6-4 in 96 minutes.
Edberg became the sole European in the last four, and faces No.9 seed
Todd Martin tomorrow.
Defending champion Jim Courier takes on world No.1 Pete Sampras in a
rerun of last year's Wimbledon final as the semis feature three
Americans for the first time since 1982.
Edberg took his chance after Muster's request to play the match in the
afternoon, when the temperature rose to 40 degrees, was turned down.
The Austrian, one of the fittest players on tour, was unable to
exploit his stamina as Edberg advanced to his fifth successive
semi-final at Flinders Park.
The Edberg-Muster match was interrupted for just over 30 minutes in
the second set when the hot weather gave way to an evening rainstorm
which forced officials to close the stadium roof.
But the delay didn't hamper the 28-year-old's progress and he said:
''I am hitting the ball as well as I have for a year. It is coming
together pretty well.''
Edberg has never played Martin outdoors but does not fear his American
opponent, saying: ''He has a very good first serve and returns pretty
well . . . but he's got nothing that really scares me.''
Martin, forced outside on the more exposed, scorched Court One, took
the first eight points of his match against compatriot MaliVai
Washington and seldom looked back, winning
6-2, 7-6, 7-6.
Courier took a little over two hours to sidestep the booming serve of
fifth seed Goran Ivanisevic in straight sets, while Sampras outwitted
Swede Magnus Gustafsson 7-6, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6.
Courier's 7-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory was effectively settled when the
frustrated Ivanisevic wasted two set points in losing the tie-break 9-7
-- and then had his serve broken in the opening game of the second set.
''It was as much a downer for him as an upper for me,'' said Courier,
who had made a special request to the tournament referee to play during
the day after two successive late night matches.
Ivanisevic, initially hatless, complained of feeling dizzy in the
first two sets. He said: ''I started seeing little stars. But you have
to play on.''
Sampras, who has won eight of his 10 career matches against Courier --
he beat his rival in four sets at Wimbledon -- was 3-1 down in his first
set tie-break with Gustafsson. Even though he won it 7-4 in the end, his
serve was not a remotely reliable weapon.
The world No.1 served 17 double faults, a personal record, but blamed
his problems squarely on the conditions.
''It's like a sauna and you can't really breathe out there,'' he said.
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