Tennis Roundup : Robin White Loses to Soviet Savchenko in Pan Pacific Play

Fifth-seeded Larisa Savchenko of the Soviet Union lost the first set but came back to defeat American Robin White 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 Tuesday in the first round of the $300,000 Toray Pan Pacific Open at Fujisawa, Japan.

Savchenko, ranked 20th in the world, came to the net and used a powerful first service to win the second set, after White easily took the first. Savchenko broke White’s serve in the third game of the final set to win.

Unseeded Dianne Balestrat of Australia upset No. 6 Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden, 6-3, 1-6, 6-0. Lindqvist rebounded in the second set but was shutout in the third as Balestrat advanced to the second round. In other first round action, Peanut Harper beat Elizabeth Smylie of Australia, 7-6, 6-2, and Barbara Gerken beat Tina Mochizuki, 6-4, 6-3.

Top-seeded Andre Agassi downed Jimmy Brown, and Diego Perez stunned No. 3-seeded David Pate in first-round play in the 78th annual U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships at Isle of Palms, S.C.

Agassi, ranked No. 18 in the world, beat Brown, 6-1, 6-4, and Perez surprised Pate, 6-3, 6-1, in the second day of play at the Wild Dunes Racquet Club.

In other action, No. 7 seed Jimmy Arias advanced to the second round of a tournament for the first time this year, defeating Dan Cassidy, 6-2, 6-2.

Joakim Nystrom of Sweden and Guillermo Perez-Roldan of Argentina won second-round matches in the $602,500 Grand Prix tournament at Hamburg, West Germany.

Nystrom defeated Thierry Champion of France, 6-0, 6-2, and Perez-Roldan beat West German Michael Westphal by the same score.