No. 2 Mecir Also Victim of an Upset : Sanchez Keeps Streak Going; Top Two Players in Tournament Ousted

What Emilio Sanchez of Spain accomplished in his quarterfinal match against second-seeded Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia Friday at Grand Champions Resort can probably best be described by glancing back just one day.

Upset No. 1: Mikael Pernfors of Sweden rallied from a one-set deficit against Stefan Edberg Thursday, sending the top-seeded Swede out of the tournament and back to his sickbed.

So, taking his cue from Pernfors, Sanchez continued the streak and came up with the second major upset of the tournament, defeating Mecir, 2-6, 6-0, 6-3, in the $702,500 Newsweek Champions Cup. The No. 8-seeded Sanchez also rallied from a one-set deficit as Mecir seemed to have problems covering the court. But Mecir said he wasn’t ailing, really; only his game was.

The odd thing is that Sanchez arrived at Indian Wells with his confidence in disrepair. He suffered through a miserable indoor season and came up short in Davis Cup play, dropping both of his singles matches as visiting Spain lost to unheralded Denmark.

The reaction back home in Madrid was not favorable, to say the least.

“It was difficult, but I wasn’t home, so it was easy for me,” Sanchez said, smiling. “The press was hard on me.”

Now, his reputation certainly should be on the mend back home. Sanchez will meet Australia’s Pat Cash in today’s semifinals.

For a time, it seemed as though the Big Four--the top four seeded players--was going to be down to One, No. 3 Boris Becker. But Cash, the No. 4-seeded player, made sure it wasn’t going to happen in threes as he fought off a determined challenge by No. 11 Amos Mansdorf of Israel, winning, 6-1, 3-6, 7-5, in another quarterfinal match.

Mansdorf, who had survived third-set tiebreakers in two of his matches, didn’t go easily Friday, either. Cash squandered three match points before Mansdorf double-faulted on the fourth.

“I’m definitely not happy with the way I’m playing,” Mansdorf said. “The only thing I’m happy with is that I’m fighting.”

Which is what Becker didn’t have to do Friday, in contrast to the others. He had little trouble with unseeded Johan Kriek, winning, 6-3, 6-4. And even though Becker thought that Kriek was the third straight difficult opponent for him here--the others being Tim Wilkison and John Fitzgerald--he hasn’t come close to dropping a set.

“It was kind of a difficult match for me,” said Becker, who meets No. 7 Andre Agassi, an 0-6, 6-2, 6-2 winner over No. 15 Pernfors, in today’s semifinals. “He’s a very flashy player. The better you play, the better he plays. And the worse you play, the worse he plays.”

Tournament Notes

After Andre Agassi lost the first set, 6-0, in 18 minutes to Mikael Pernfors Friday, he wasn’t exactly at a loss for words. “You’re not going to get out of this so easy,” he told Pernfors. Then, Agassi felt the momentum switch in the opening game of the second set. “I wasn’t desperate,” he said. “I knew why he beat me so badly. It was because of me.” . . . Agassi meets Boris Becker today at 11:30 a.m. on the Stadium Court in the first semifinal, followed by Emilio Sanchez vs. Pat Cash. . . . Stefan Edberg, who lost to Pernfors Thursday, withdrew from his doubles match Friday because of the flu and a bronchial infection. Edberg had wanted to return to Sweden Friday. However, his doctor advised him to stay in Indian Wells for a couple of days. He’ll also miss next week’s tournament at Orlando, Fla.

Cash received a warning for verbal abuse in the third set of his quarterfinal match against Amos Mansdorf when he called the chair umpire, Paulo Pereira, “a bozo.” Minutes later, he received a point penalty after he made a face, wiggling his head and sticking out his tongue at Pereira. What led to this was when Cash served an apparent ace at 3-3, deuce, which was called out. Pereira overruled the call but decided they should play a let. Cash, however, thought Mansdorf didn’t have a play on the ball. The point penalty gave Mansdorf an ad, but Cash held his serve. . . . The attendance for Friday’s quarterfinals was 8,002, bringing the five-day total to 30,546.