Tennis Roundup : Gomez, Down Match Point, Comes Back

Top-seeded Andres Gomez of Ecuador fought off match point in the second set to beat Fernando Luna of Spain, 6-7, 7-6, 6-2, Thursday and move into the quarterfinals of the $220,000 D.C. tennis tournament at Washington.

In other third-round matches, second-seeded Thierry Tulasne of France defeated Ronald Agenor of Haiti, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1; third-seeded Martin Jaite of Argentina beat Pablo Arraya of Peru, 7-5, 6-3, but fourth-seeded Guillermo Vilas of Argentina was eliminated by Karel Novacek of Czechoslovakia, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1.

Also, ninth-seeded Aaron Krickstein set up a meeting with Gomez when he ousted Marko Ostoja of Yugoslavia, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6, and fifth-seeded Jimmy Arias outlasted 12th-seeded Horacio de la Pena of Argentina, 7-6, 7-5.

USC’s Caroline Kuhlman, an amateur who is ranked 73rd in the world, defeated Elna Reinach, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, to advance to the semifinals of a $75,000 Virginia Slims tournament at the San Diego Hilton Beach & Tennis Resort.

Reinach had upset top-seeded Kathy Jordan Wednesday, but she couldn’t keep up with Kuhlman, who won the gold medal at the Goodwill Games in Moscow.

In a later match, Stephanie Rehe defeated Debbie Spence, 6-3, 6-1.

Emilio Sanchez of Spain defeated Marian Vajda of Czechoslovakia, 6-3, 6-4, at Hilversum, the Netherlands, to reach the semifinals of a $100,000 Grand Prix tournament.