TENNIS ROUNDUP : Edberg Routed, but Sweden Prevails

The Czech Republic didn’t fare well against Sweden in the World Team Cup at Dusseldorf, Germany, but the country’s lone victory Wednesday was an impressive one as Petr Korda routed Stefan Edberg, 6-1, 6-1,

Sweden won, 2-1, and Germany defeated France by the same score to set up a match Friday between the two undefeated red group leaders.

The blue group plays today with the United States facing Russia and Switzerland meeting Spain.

Korda used his accurate forehand to breeze past Edberg on the clay court in only 55 minutes as the Swede double-faulted on match point.

Edberg redeemed himself in the deciding doubles match when he and Anders Jarryd outlasted Czech team of Korda and Cyril Suk, 6-7 (7-4), 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-3), in a match interrupted several times by rain.

Germany’s victory over France also was decided in doubles, where Michael Stich and Patrick Kuehnen beat Arnaud Boetsch and Henri LeConte, 6-3, 6-4.

Stich rallied to beat Fabrice Santoro, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, after falling behind, 3-1, in the third set.

In the other singles, Germany’s Carl-Uwe Steeb wasn’t able to regain his early form after a rain delay and lost to Arnaud Boetsch, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

*

Andrei Cherkasov of Russia struggled past Moroccan qualifier Karim Alami, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5, in the second round of a tournament at Bologna, Italy.

Fourth-seeded Cherkasov squandered a 4-2 lead in the first set and had problems in the second set before earning a quarterfinal berth against No. 6 Franco Davin of Argentina. Davin beat Diego Nargiso of Italy, 6-3, 6-1.

Ctislav Dosedel of the Czech Republic advanced to the quarterfinals by upsetting fifth-seeded Renzo Furlan of Italy, 7-6 (7-5), 1-6, 6-3. He takes on another Italian, Claudio Pistolesi, in the quarterfinals. Pistolesi upset Spain’s Javier Sanchez, 6-3, 6-4.

Second-seeded David Wheaton was upset by Italian favorite Paolo Cane, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, in a late first-round match Tuesday night.

*

Ginger Helgeson upset eighth-seeded Sabine Appelmans of Belgium, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, to advance to the third round of Strasbourg Open in France.

Two other Americans, Shaun Stafford and Kathy Rinaldi, were second-round losers.