Tennis Roundup : Agassi Breezes; Noah Struggles and Talks Retirement

Defending champion Andre Agassi defeated Glenn Michibata of Canada, 6-2, 6-2, and Yannick Noah survived a match point before downing Jeremy Bates of Britain, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2, in the opening round of the Volvo International tennis tournament Tuesday at Stratton Mountain, Vt.

After his match, Noah said he may retire after the U.S. Open in September. Noah was ranked as high as No. 3 in the world in 1986, but has been plagued by injuries since then and fallen to 25th.

“I’d love to play some semifinals and finals, but struggling in the first round isn’t much fun,” said Noah, who hasn’t won a title this year.

When he does stop playing, Noah said he plans to sail around the world for several years and then return to school.

“I don’t know exactly what I’m going to learn, but I’m definitely going to go back and spend some time learning more about philosophy or some religions,” he said.

Noah rallied after falling behind 4-2 in the second-set tiebreaker.

“I had just had it, and then came back and won,” he said. “In a tiebreaker anything can happen and I was happy I won it.”

Agassi, 19, spent more time talking about his reputation than his victory over Michibata. Agassi, of Las Vegas, has failed to win a tournament this year after capturing six titles last year, and his flamboyant style has been criticized.

Agassi said reporters have taken his comments out of context and made him look like “I’m some sort of egotistical maniac.”

“It really made you question whether it was really worth it,” he said.

Bettina Bunge, once ranked sixth in the world, returned to singles play for the first time since 1987 and defeated No. 5-seeded Lori McNeil, 6-2, 6-0, in the $200,000 Great American Bank tournament at San Diego.

Bunge outplayed McNeil in making her comeback from the knee and foot injuries that sidelined her for more than a year.

While McNeil became the third seeded player to fall in the opening round, No. 2-seeded Zina Garrison prevailed over Jenny Byrne, 6-1, 7-5, in another first round match.

In a second-round match, top-ranked Steffi Graf defeated Betsy Nagelsen, 6-1, 6-1, in 43 minutes.

Bunge, who had her top ranking in 1983, returned to doubles competition in March before trying singles against McNeil, who is ranked 24th.

“This is certainly a nice surprise, but one match isn’t enough to tell you ‘yes or no,’ ” said Bunge, who lives in Monaco. “It is a period of tests. It would be naive to say otherwise.”

Defending champion Kent Carlsson of Sweden overcame a second-set lapse to defeat Diego Perez of Uruguay, 7-5, 1-6, 6-2, and move into the second round of the $350,000 Austrian Open tennis tournament at Kitzbuhel, Austria.