Australian Open Tennis Championships : Wilander Elbows Past Kriek Into Semifinals
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MELBOURNE, Australia — Mats Wilander, seeking a third straight Australian Open tennis championship, shook off the effects of an elbow injury to defeat sixth-seeded Johan Kriek, 6-3, 7-5, 6-2, in a quarterfinal match Wednesday.
The victory by the 21-year-old Swede set up a semifinal match with unseeded Yugoslavian Slobodan Zivojinovic, who upset John McEnroe in the quarterfinals and who beat Wilander in the first round at Wimbledon this year.
Wilander, seeded third, completed his victory over Kriek with his elbow bandaged, and he admitted the injury was giving him pain. “It happens playing on grass or hard courts,” he said. “You have to serve harder on those surfaces, and it hurts after a while. Right now, it is hurting more than ever. It hurt every time I served.”
In another match, top-seeded Ivan Lendl turned back unseeded Christo Steyn of South Africa, 6-3, 6-2, 6-7, 6-2. Lendl will face John Lloyd of Britain in a quarterfinal match today.
Fifth-seeded Stefan Edberg of Sweden will meet unseeded Michiel Schapers of the Netherlands in the other quarterfinal match today.
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