Tennis Roundup : Mecir Reaches Final in $415,000 Tournament

Second-seeded Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia beat David Pate, 7-6, 5-7, 6-0, at Orlando, Fla., Friday to earn a berth in today’s final of the $415,000 Du Pont tennis tournament.

Mecir will face the winner of Friday night’s match between Andrei Chesnokov of the Soviet Union and Jay Berger. The champion will collect $59,000.

“Once he got on top, he just rolled me right over,” Pate said. “I was struggling with my serve, and that makes it a lot harder when you’re not serving well.”

Mecir survived a set point at 8-7 in the first-set tiebreaker before winning, 10-8.

No. 1-seeded Steffi Graf defeated Pascale Paradis of France, 6-1, 6-2, to reach the semifinals of a $300,000 Virginia Slims tournament at Boca Raton, Fla.

No. 2 Chris Evert, No. 3 Pam Shriver and No. 4 Gabriela Sabatini also advanced.

Evert defeated No. 7 Sandra Cecchini of Italy, 6-1, 6-0; Shriver beat Gigi Fernandez of Puerto Rico, 1-6, 7-5, 7-5, and Sabatini ousted No. 11 Mary Joe Fernandez, 7-6, 6-3.

Against Shriver, Fernandez served for the match in the 10th game of the third set before losing.

“I was shell-shocked the way she came out of the gate and played the first set,” Shriver said.