International Players Tennis Championships : Connors Sweeps Past Jarryd Into Semifinals

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. —  Jimmy Connors, who has yet to lose a set in the tournament, was among the top three seeded tennis players to advance into the semifinals of the Lipton International Players Championships Wednesday.

Connors, seeded second, beat seventh-seeded Anders Jarryd of Sweden, 7-5, 6-3, 6-1. Also advancing in the two-week hard-court tournament were defending champion Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia, seeded third, and Mats Wilander of Sweden, seeded first.

In the semifinals Friday, Connors will play Mecir, who rallied from a 4-1 fourth-set deficit to defeat Jay Berger, 6-1, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6.

Wilander will play sixth-seeded Yannick Noah of France, who eliminated Andrei Chesnokov of the Soviet Union, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4. Wilander needed only 82 minutes to beat unseeded Aaron Krickstein, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0.

The 35-year-old Connors, seeking his first Grand Prix title in 3 1/2 years, won six straight games near the end of the match. Connors broke Jarryd in the final game of the first set, beginning a run of 11 straight points.

“If the match could’ve kept up the pace of the first set, that would’ve been quite extraordinary,” Connors said. “I think more or less after that, his spirit might have been broken a little bit. And I started playing better and better.”

Connors has beaten Jarryd five straight times.