TENNIS ROUNDUP : Pernfors, Martin in Final

Mikael Pernfors advanced to the final of the Canadian Open at Montreal and couldn’t hide his surprise.

“I never thought it would happen again,” said Pernfors, who defeated Petr Korda of the Czech Republic, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5, in the semifinals Saturday at Jarry Stadium.

The victory put Pernfors, a former top-10 player on an injury comeback, in position to win a tournament for the first time since 1988.

“I thought if I played really well I’d go two or three rounds and if I came up against a really good player, I’d lose,” said Pernfors, 30, of Sweden.

In today’s final, Pernfors will face 13th-seeded Todd Martin, who beat unseeded Richey Reneberg, 6-3, 6-4.

Pernfors missed two years of play and underwent Achilles’ tendon surgery in 1990. His world ranking dropped to 1,001 in 1991 before he began his comeback.

He rose to No. 95 going into the Canadian Open and is the lowest-ranked player ever to reach the Canadian Open final.

Pernfors did not drop a set in his first five matches, which included upsets of second-seeded Jim Courier and eighth-seeded Alexander Volkov.

Korda made 55 unforced errors against Pernfors.

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Top-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain swept into the finals of the U.S. Women’s Hard Court Championships at Stratton Mountain, Vt., with a straight-set victory over fourth-seeded Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere.

Martinez, the world’s sixth-ranked player, overpowered Maleeva-Fragniere, 6-1, 6-2.

In the other semifinal, fifth-seeded Zina Garrison-Jackson beat Beate Reinstadler of Austria, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Martinez dropped the first game, but won nine consecutive games to lead, 3-0, in the second set. Maleeva-Fragniere then won two consecutive games and led, 30-15, on her serve in the sixth game when she came unglued.

After reaching deuce, Maleeva-Fragniere double faulted and Martinez hit a backhand winner to take the game and a 4-2 lead.

Reinstadler, ranked No. 162, routed Garrison-Jackson in the first set and took a 4-2 lead in the second.

She had two break points in the seventh game before losing it. On one break point, a Garrison-Jackson forehand appeared long but was called in.

Reinstadler called it the worst-officiated match she has seen all year. “Maybe it’s America,” the Austrian said.

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Magnus Gustafsson of Sweden and Carlos Costa of Spain each won two matches--played because of rain delays during the week--to reach the final of the Dutch Open clay-court championships at Hilversum, Netherlands.

Gustafsson began with a 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory over Spaniard Francisco Clavet and followed that with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Richard Fromberg of Australia.

Costa eliminated Andrei Cherkasov of Russia, 6-4, 7-5, then beat fellow Spaniard Javier Sanchez, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.

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Tina Mochizuki-Karwasky of Glendale defeated Barbara Jordan of Los Altos, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, to win the 35-and-over title in the U.S. Women’s Grass Court Tennis Championship at Haverford, Pa.