Tennis Roundup : Agassi Faces Mattar in Final of Brazilian Tournament

American Andre Agassi upset Martin Jaite of Argentina, 6-2, 7-5, Friday to advance to the final of the $516,000 Sul America Open in Northeastern Brazil.

Brazilian Luiz Mattar earned the other berth in today’s final with a 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 victory over Czechoslovakia’s Tomas Smid.

Agassi, 17, dominated his match against the more experienced Jaite, ranked No. 15 in the world, despite playing in temperatures of more than 100 degrees.

“I knew that I had to decide the match early, because if it dragged on he would benefit because of his better physical shape. It worked, and when he started to react, my advantage was too great,” Agassi said after the match.

“Agassi was better, and the way he’s playing I doubt he’ll lose the finals,” said Jaite, who beat Agassi twice this year on clay.

Mattar, Brazil’s best player, got a boost from the raucous crowd and rallied to defeat Smid, a surprise semifinalist after defeating top-seeded Andres Gomez of Ecuador in the quarterfinals.

After losing the first set and behind 5-2 in the second, Mattar attacked more aggressively just as Smid began to slow down in the grueling heat.

“The fans were important for my comeback because they made me wake up to the game,” Mattar said.

Smid admitted the noisy crowd was a factor.

“If the game were anywhere else in the world except here, Mattar wouldn’t have won. But that’s normal. If the game were in Prague, the fans would act the same,” he said.

Today’s winner will receive $90,000.

Thomas Muster of Austria defeated Sweden’s Magnus Gustafsson, 6-2, 6-4, in the second semifinal match in the $150,000 Young Masters tennis tournament at Friedrichshafen, West Germany.

In today’s final, Muster will face Swede Jonas Svensson, who needed only 46 minutes to beat Austria’s Alex Antonitsch 6-1, 6-1, Friday.

Muster needed 66 minutes to defeat Gustafsson.

Tournament favorite Boris Becker of West Germany was beaten Thursday by Gustafsson. Becker, who had been suffering from a bad cold and a knee injury, is expected to play in the Masters Tournament at New York next week.

Before his defeat by the 51st-ranked Swede, Becker had won all three previous Young Masters titles.