Tennis Roundup : Agassi Loses Way Again but Gets Past Davis, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3

Say what you will about Andre Agassi, he knows himself.

In a match that took several turns, defending champion and top-seeded Agassi survived a scare from journeyman Marty Davis for a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory Wednesday in the second round of the $602,500 Volvo International at Stratton Mountain, Vt.

“I’m a weird character out there,” Agassi said of his up-and-down play. “I was all over his serve in the first set.

“One thing I lack is concentration, but that’s my life story and I’m getting used to it. If I could answer that (why he loses concentration), I would have already corrected it. Maybe I’m an immature player--some people might consider it that way.”

Agassi, who has yet to win a tournament this year after taking six last year and rising to No. 3 in the world, said he lost his concentration in the second set and didn’t get it back until midway through the final set.

Second-seeded Michael Chang lost the first three games, but his steady play wore down Johan Carlsson of Sweden, 7-5, 6-3.

Agassi, who has fallen to No. 7 in the world, and Chang, whose French Open victory and showing at Wimbledon jumped him to No. 6, remained on track for their first tournament meeting of the year in Sunday’s final.

No. 3 Brad Gilbert scored a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Gianluca Pozzi of Italy, but No. 4 Kevin Curren, No. 5 Amos Mansdorf, No. 6 Jay Berger, No. 7 Yannick Noah, No. 11 Paul Annacone and No. 16 Scott Davis all were beaten.

Jared Palmer, an amateur ranked 377th in the world, scored the tournament’s biggest upset by beating Curren, ranked 15th, in 62 minutes, 6-4, 6-3.

Grant Connell of Canada eliminated Mansdorf, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2); Berger was beaten by Canadian Andrew Sznajder, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, and Noah fell to Jim Grabb, 6-1, 6-4. Annacone, who lost to Agassi in last year’s final, was beaten by Glenn Layendecker, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), and David Wheaton beat Davis, 6-1, 6-4.

Ann Grossman rallied to upset fourth-seeded Patty Fendick, 3-6, 7-5, 6-0, and advance to the quarterfinals of the $200,000 Great American Bank tournament at San Diego.

In other matches, second-seeded Zina Garrison struggled past Terry Phelps, 7-5, 6-7 (9-7), 6-9; Robin White beat Wendy White, 6-3, 6-4, and seventh-seeded Claudia Kohde-Kilsch of West Germany outlasted Isabelle Demongeot of France, 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.

Kohde-Kilsch will meet top-ranked Steffi Graf in today’s quarterfinals.

Johan Andersson, a Swedish-born Australian qualifier, surprised top-seeded Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, in a day of upsets in the $305,000 Swedish Open at Bastad, Sweden.

Karel Novacek, an unseeded Czechoslovakian, knocked off third-seeded Andres Gomez of Ecuador, 6-3, 6-4, and Joakim Nystrom of Sweden bumped off second-seeded Mikael Pernfors of Sweden, 6-2, 6-4.

Romanian-born West German Christian Saceanu upset defending champion Kent Carlsson of Sweden, 6-4, 6-4, in the Austrian Open at Kitzbuhel, Austria.

In other matches, top-seeded Alberto Mancini of Argentina overcame Richard Vogel of Czechoslovakia, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3; Emilio Sanchez of Spain defeated Lawson Duncan, 6-1, 6-1, and came back later in the day to beat Franco Davin of Argentina, 6-3, 6-3, and Guillermo Perez-Roldan of Argentina ousted Harald Mair of Austria, 6-0, 6-3.