Tennis Roundup : Trying for 11th Win in Row, Agassi Meets Zivojinovic

Andre Agassi, playing his third match in 24 hours, beat Aaron Krickstein, 6-3, 6-3, Saturday at Forest Hills, N.Y., to advance to the final of the Tournament of Champions.

Agassi, seeded fifth, will meet eighth-seeded Slobodan Zivojinovic in today’s match at the West Side Tennis Club. Zivojinovic defeated 13th-seeded Luiz Mattar of Brazil, 7-6, 6-3, in the other semifinal.

Friday night, Agassi completed the final set of a rain-interrupted victory over Michael Chang indoors at the Port Washington Tennis Academy. He returned to Forest Hills Saturday morning and beat Alberto Tous, 6-2, 6-2, in the quarterfinals.

Three hours later, the 18-year-old player from Las Vegas took the court against the seventh-seeded Krickstein, who upset defending champion Andres Gomez, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, in the quarterfinals.

Agassi, who won last week’s U.S. Clay Court championships has now won 10 matches in a row, raising his record to 24-4 this year and his world ranking to No. 15.

Zivojinovic, who upset top-seeded Stefan Edberg, 1-6, 6-2, 6-4, earlier in the day, edged Mattar in an airtight match. There was only one break point in the match, and Zivojinovic converted it to take a 5-3 lead in the second set before holding serve for the victory.

The 24-year-old Yugoslavian player also had to play three matches in less than 24 hours.

In the other quarterfinal, Mattar upset sixth-seeded Mikael Pernfors of Sweden, 7-6, 6-4.

At Rome, second-seeded Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina and 14th-seeded Helen Kelesi moved into the final of the $200,000 Italian Open women’s championships in 86-degree heat.

Sabatini, the heavy favorite following the withdrawal of top-seeded Chris Evert, staved off one set point and needed nearly 2 hours before defeating 13th-seeded Judith Wiesner of Austria, 7-6, 6-3.

Kelesi outsteadied 16-year-old Arantxa Sanchez of Spain, who was seeded eighth, 7-5, 6-3.

Sweden’s Jonas B. Svensson defeated Spain’s Emilio Sanchez, 6-7, 6-1, 6-4, to reach the final of a $202,000 tournament at Munich, West Germany.

In the other semifinal, Argentina’s Guillermo Perez-Roldan had no trouble beating Australia’s Wally Masur, 6-4, 6-2.