Tennis Roundup : Connors Is Davis’ Latest Victim

Scott Davis eliminated fourth-seeded Jimmy Connors, 6-3, 6-4, Friday to move into the semifinals of the $605,000 Japan Open tennis tournament at Tokyo with his second consecutive major upset

Davis, who defeated third-seeded Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia Thursday, will meet David Pate in today’s semifinals. Pate, who celebrated his 25th birthday Thursday by defeating top-seeded Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia, ousted Johan Kriek, 7-5, 6-2.

Stefan Edberg, reigning Australian Open champion, breezed into the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over fellow Swede Anders Jarryd, and Andres Gomez of Ecuador earned the remaining semifinal berth with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Andre Agassi.

In the women’s semifinals, second-seeded Katerina Maleeva of Bulgaria came from behind to beat fourth-seeded Betsy Nagelsen, 1-6, 7-6, 6-3, in 2 hours 20 minutes and advance to the final against Barbara Gerken of Thousand Oaks, Calif. Gerken eliminated Japan’s top-ranked player, Etsuko Inoue, 6-2, 7-6.

At Amelia Island, Fla., top-seeded Steffi Graf of West Germany needed just 43 minutes to defeat seventh-seeded Manuela Maleeva of Bulgaria, 6-1, 6-0, in the quarterfinals of the WITA Championships.

Graf, who has won 20 straight matches, said she was surprised by the ease of her victory. Just last Sunday, she struggled to beat Maleeva, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, in the final of the Family Circle Magazine Cup tournament at Hilton Head Island, S.C.

The victory moved Graf into the semifinals, where she will meet fifth-seeded Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina. Sabatini defeated Helen Kelesi of Canada, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

Second-seeded Hana Mandlikova of Czechoslovakia reached the semifinals by downing Terry Phelps, 7-6, 6-2, and will meet third-seeded Zina Garrison, who beat sixth-seeded Kathy Rinaldi, 6-4, 6-4.

At Nice, Andrei Chesnokov became the first Soviet player in 12 years to reach the semifinals of a Grand Prix tournament when he upset third-seeded Martin Jaite of Argentina, 7-6, 6-2.

The last Soviet man to do it was Alex Metreveli in 1975.

Chesnokov reached the quarterfinals of the French Open last year with an upset victory over Mats Wilander in a third-round match.

In other matches Friday, top-seeded Kent Carlsson of Sweden beat Ronald Agenor of Haiti, 6-2, 6-1; second-seeded Emilio Sanchez of Spain defeated Marian Vajda of Czechoslovakia, 6-2, 6-2, and Thierry Tulasne of France advanced with a 7-5, 7-6 victory over Aaron Krickstein.