Soviet Star, No. 3 Seed, Upset in Paris : Italian Rallies to Beat Zvereva; Agassi Gives U.S. Hopes a Boost

Natalia Zvereva, beaten in the finals last year, returned to the Center Court at the French Open today and crumbled again on the dusty red clay as Raffaella Reggi rallied to beat her 3-6, 7-6, 6-2 in the tournament’s first major upset.

The No. 3 women’s seed from the Soviet Union, blanked 6-0, 6-0 by Steffi Graf on her last visit to Roland Garros’ main show court, slumped to a dramatic first-round defeat after moving to the brink of victory against her Italian opponent.

Andre Agassi, the main U.S. hope to break a 34-year drought in the men’s event, made an impressive start, rolling over Johan Carlsson of Sweden 6-3, 6-4, 6-1.

Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia, the men’s top seed and favorite, battled through a one-hour opening set before beating Patrick Kuhnen 7-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the opening Center Court match of second-day action.

Joining the 29-year-old three-time champion in the second round was Boris Becker. The West German looked like the perfect clay-court player as he abandoned the trademark serve-and-volley style that reaped two Wimbledon championships to whip Jim Pugh of the United States 6-4, 6-2, 6-3.

Zvereva seemed to be heading for a routine first-round success against Reggi as she led 6-3, 5-2, needing only one more game.

‘Remarkable Comeback’

Then Reggi, the world’s 29th-ranked player, staged a remarkable comeback.

First, the Italian fought her way to 5-5, then rallied from 4-2 down in the tiebreaker to square the match after Zvereva was warned for wasting time as she protested about a line call.

In the decider, Zvereva struggled to 2-2 but then caved in and didn’t win another game in the match.

“I knew that if I didn’t win it in two sets, I wouldn’t last in the third. My physical condition is not good enough,” Zvereva said.

The 18-year-old Soviet player said her poor results over the past few weeks, including today’s upset, were partly the result of a dispute with her national tennis federation over prize money. She has demanded to keep the majority of her earnings instead of handing them over to Soviet officials.

She said she would hold a news conference in Paris to talk about the issue, which she said had affected her mental state.

Following Zvereva out of the tournament was No. 9 seed Hana Mandlikova of Australia, still unable to rediscover the form that helped her capture the Australian Open title two years ago. Andrea Vieira of Brazil beat her 6-7, 6-1, 6-4.

Victories for Chang, Sloane

Michael Chang and Susan Sloane gave the United States a pair of first-round victories. Chang, the No. 15 men’s seed, beat Eduardo Masso of Argentina 6-7, 6-3, 6-0, 6-3. Sloane, No. 16 among the women, crushed compatriot Carrie Cunningham, 6-0, 6-2.

There was bad news for Spanish fans today when Emilio Sanchez, seeded No. 12, withdrew with groin and thigh injuries.