Tennis Roundup : Vilas Reaches Quarterfinals in U.S. Pro Tournament

Guillermo Vilas, attempting a comeback from a two-year slump, advanced Friday to the quarterfinals of the $267,000 U.S. Pro tennis championships at Brookline, Mass.

Vilas, who will be 33 next month, defeated Peru’s Pablo Arraya, 6-4, 6-2, in a third-round match that lasted 94 minutes.

“He should be in the Boston Marathon,” Arraya said. “I had him running all over the place, and I couldn’t tire him out.”

Vilas, who upset 17-year-old Aaron Krickstein, the defending champion, in the second round, won the U.S. Pro title in 1982. Currently ranked only 58th in the world, he was not seeded in this year’s tournament.

“My first match was tougher, my second match was tougher, and today was a big confidence-builder,” Vilas said. “A new training program I started three weeks ago definitely has helped me. I think I’m moving better than I have in two years.”

While Vilas was putting on his show, another Argentine, 20-year-old Martin Jaite, eliminated the tournament’s last American hope by defeating 32-year-old Harold Solomon, 6-2, 7-5.

In other third-round matches, Juan Aguilera of Spain upset third-seeded Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, and Paul McNamee of Australia defeated Thierry Tulasne of France, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

At Newport, R.I., Tom Gullikson upset top-seeded Johan Kriek, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, to move into the semifinals of the Volvo Hall of Fame tournament.

“I’m glad I’m out of the tournament,” Kriek said. “I don’t think I could stand to play one more match like that.”

In Friday’s other quarterfinal, David Pate defeated Paul Annacone, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Top-seeded Joakim Nystrom of Sweden defeated Wojtek Fibak of Poland, 7-6, 6-0, at Gstaad, Switzerland, to become the only seeded player to advance to the semifinals of the $150,000 Swiss Open. Seventh-seeded Heinz Gunthardt of Switzerland, the other seeded player in the quarterfinals, lost to Guy Forget of France, 6-1, 6-4.