Tennis Roundup : Evert Pulls Out, Kohde-Kilsch Knocked Out in Rome

The women’s Italian Open, already without Martina Navratilova, lost top-seeded Chris Evert and third-seeded Claudia Kohde-Kilsch Thursday.

Evert was forced to default her match to No. 14 Helen Kelesi of Canada because of a bone spur inflammation in her right heel, and Kohde-Kilsch was upset by No. 13 Judith Wiesner of Austria, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, at Rome.

Navratilova withdrew from the tournament at the last minute because of a back ailment.

Second-seeded Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina defeated Niege Dias of Brazil, 6-0, 6-2, and has become the overwhelming favorite.

Evert suffered the injury during her victory Wednesday over Nicole Provis of Australia. Although she showed no signs of the ailment during the match, the pain later became “excruciating,” and she could not even stand up on Thursday, said her fiancee, Andy Mill.

“It started in the second set,” said Mill, a former U.S. Olympic skier. “It didn’t happen on one shot; it just gradually got worse during the match.”

Evert said she should be ready for the French Open in 11 days.

In other matches, No. 6 Sandra Cecchini of Italy struggled past Angeliki Kanellopoulou of Greece, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1; No. 5 Raffaella Reggi of downed No. 10 Isabel Cueto of West Germany, 7-5, 6-3; No. 7 Sylvia Hanika of West Germany routed Alexia Dechaume of France, 6-2, 6-1; No. 8 Arantxa Sanchez of Spain defeated Sabrina Goles of Yugoslavia, 6-3, 6-3, and Bettina Fulco of Argentina beat Julie Halard of France, 6-3, 6-3.

Top-seeded Stefan Edberg, playing his best tennis of the week, defeated No. 16 Thomas Muster of Austria, 6-4, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the Tournament of Champions in New York.

In other matches, No. 2 Andres Gomez of Ecuador needed only 37 minutes to dispose of No. 15 Milan Srejber of Czechoslovakia, 6-1, 6-0; No. 6 Mikael Pernfors of Sweden overcame Pedro Rebolledo of Chile, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, and No. 7 Aaron Krickstein defeated Jimmy Brown, 6-3, 7-5.

A much anticipated meeting between Andre Agassi, 18, and Michael Chang, 16, the best American prospects, was suspended by rain with Agassi leading, 6-2, 1-3.