TENNIS ROUNDUP : Graf Scores Delayed Win Over Fernandez in Florida

Rain delayed Steffi Graf’s match against Mary Joe Fernandez for more than three hours, and she would have preferred to wait a little longer.

Not that Graf struggled. The top-seeded German lost only three points in the first set Saturday night and won, 6-0, 7-5, to advance to the final in the Virginia Slims of Florida at Boca Raton.

“I was really relaxed. I stayed at home for a while and watched TV,” said Graf, who lives near the stadium court. She added, with mock anger, “I watched ‘Beverly Hills Cop II,’ and I had to miss the last 10 minutes.”

Graf’s opponent today will be Conchita Martinez, who defeated Amanda Coetzer in the other semifinal, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0.

Because of a thunderstorm, the Graf-Fernandez semifinal started shortly after 10 p.m. EST. Tournament officials were on the verge of postponing the match until this morning, which would have required the winner to play twice in one day.

“I was just hoping to get it on,” Graf said. “I was hoping the rain would stop, and thank God it did.”

Graf, who won the tournament in 1987 and 1989, clearly was ready to play. She needed only 17 minutes to take the first set, winning 24 of the 27 points. Fernandez, seeded third, struggled to keep the ball in play.

“My timing was really off,” Fernandez said.

Though Martinez pleaded not guilty, a coaching violation marked the turning point in her victory. The Spaniard had just lost her serve at the start of second set when she received a warning from chair umpire Lynda Hinshaw for being coached.

Martinez’s coach, Francisco Lopez, was sitting in the first row behind the baseline and shouting in Spanish.

“He was saying, ‘C’mon, Conchita,’ ” she said. “We always speak before the match, not on the court.”

Martinez won 12 of the final 14 games after the warning.

Anders Jarryd and Magnus Larsson of Sweden, the only seeded players who survived the round of eight, won semifinal matches in the Copenhagen Open.

Jarryd, seeded fourth, defeated Diego Nargiso of Italy, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5, and No. 8 Larsson defeated Christian Saceanu of Germany, 6-7 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.