Tennis Roundup : Lavalle Distracted by Earthquake News

Shaken by the news of the earthquake in his hometown, 18-year-old Leonardo Lavalle of Mexico lost, 7-5, 6-1, to Juan Aguilera of Spain Friday in the quarterfinals of the $100,000 Martini Open tennis tournament at Geneva.

Lavalle, the Wimbledon junior champion, upset Switzerland’s Heinz Gunthardt Thursday to advance to the round of eight. But unable to reach his parents by telephone after the Mexico City earthquake, he appeared distracted in falling to Aguilera.

Tournament organizers said Lavalle heard about the disaster shortly before his Friday match.

In other matches, top-seeded Mats Wilander of Sweden ousted Jakob Hlasek of Switzerland, 7-5, 6-4; sixth-seeded Henri Leconte of France beat Marian Vajda of Czechoslovakia, 7-5, 6-1, and Tomas Smid of Czechoslovakia overpowered Roberto Arguello of Argentina, 6-2, 6-2.

In today’s semifinals, Wilander will face Leconte, while Smid will play Aguilera.

Hlasek came close to winning the first set as he broke Wilander’s serve for a 5-4 lead. But while serving against the sun, he lost the 10th game, and Wilander went on the win the next five games.

“Hlasek should have won the first set. I was a little bit lucky in the 10th game,” Wilander said

At Chicago, top-seeded Pam Shriver lost in the quarterfinals of a $150,000 Virginia Slims tournament to eighth-seeded Kathy Jordan.

Jordan, ranked No. 18 in the world, defeated the No. 4 women’s player, 6-2, 6-3.

Jordan will face 18-year-old Kathy Rinaldi in today’s semifinals. Rinaldi advanced by trouncing Susan Mascarin, 6-4, 6-3.

Shriver said she ran into a “real buzzsaw, but was quite tired” from the recent U.S. Open.

“I only played in the Chicago Slims because I was the defending champion,” she said.

In the first set, Jordan raced to a 3-0 lead before Shriver could hold her serve. Then, Jordan won three of the next four games.

Shriver pulled herself together early in the second set, breaking Jordan in the fifth game. But Jordan responded by tying the set, 3-3.

From that point, Shriver seemed to run out of gas, was run all over the court and finally bowed out in defeat.

Earlier, Wendy Turnbull of Australia, the fourth-seeded player, was forced to go three sets before ousting seventh-seeded Barbara Potter, 6-1, 6-7, 6-3.

Turnbull cashed in on five aces and 11 winners. Today, she will face fifth-seeded Bonnie Gadusek, who defeated Elise Burgin, 6-4, 7-6.

At Bordeaux, France, top-seeded Jose-Luis Clerc of Argentina easily defeated unranked Ronald Agenor of Haiti, 6-2, 6-4, in the quarterfinals of a $100,000 Grand Prix tournament.

In other matches, Thierry Tulasne of France, inspired by the home crowd, upset second-seeded Libor Pimek of Czechoslovakia, 6-1, 6-1; Jimmy Brown defeated Jorge Bardou of Spain, 6-2, 6-2, and fifth-seeded Diego Perez of Uruguay ousted Francisco Maciel of Mexico, 6-3, 6-3.

In today’s semifinals, Clerc plays the fourth-seeded Brown, and Perez meets Tulasne, who is seeded seventh.