Novotna Advances

Second-seeded Jana Novotna, deprived of her serve and volley game by strong winds, took control in the third set and advanced to the semifinals of the Pathmark Classic in Mahwah, N.J., with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-0 victory over Iva Majoli. Novotna will play Magdalena Maleeva in the semis tonight.

Sixth-seeded Chanda Rubin will face Ai Sugiyama of Japan in the other semifinal.

Top-seeded Thomas Muster of Austria took only 64 minutes to crush Jordi Arrese of Spain 6-1, 6-3 and advance to the semifinals of the 375,000 Croatia Open tennis tournament in Umag, Croatia.

Muster will face fifth-seeded Francisco Clavet of Spain while Italian Andrea Gaudenzi will meet Carlos Costa of Spain in the other semifinal.

In Commack, N.Y., defending champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia advanced to the semifinals of the Hamlet Cup, beating Shuzo Matsuoka of Japan 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.

Kafelnikov will face No. 3 Marc Rosset of Switzerland today while Jan Siemerink of the Netherlands will play Renzo Furlan of Italy in the other semifinal.