Tennis Roundup : Chang Is Upset by Grabb, 6-2, 6-4

Jim Grabb, ranked 114th in the world, used a strong serve-and-volley game to surprise Michael Chang, 6-2, 6-4, Friday in the quarterfinals of the $602,500 Volvo International tennis tournament at Stratton Mountain, Vt.

Chang, seeded No. 2, fought off two match points, one with a powerful passing shot, but slammed an easy overhead into the net to lose the match.

Grabb will play No. 14 Jim Pugh in the semifinals, and No. 3 Brad Gilbert will play David Wheaton, who defeated No. 9 Jim Courier, 6-4, 6-3, in a match delayed more than 2 1/2 hours by rain.

Gilbert defeated Glenn Layendecker, 6-4, 7-5. Pugh beat Robert Seguso, 6-3, 6-2.

Chang had trouble from the start against Grabb, who is 6-feet-4 and has a long reach. He attacked the net at every chance.

“Jim’s got long arms, long legs, and sometimes it can be kind of difficult mentally,” said Chang, who is ranked sixth in the world. “You try to hit a passing shot, and all of a sudden this long arm comes out and just sort of hits the ball back.”

In advancing to the semifinals, Grabb has yet to lose a set in four matches. He has upset three seeded players--Yannick Noah, Johan Kriek and Chang.

Second-seeded Zina Garrison, No. 6 Nathalie Tauziat and unseeded Bettina Bunge joined No. 1 Steffi Graf in the semifinals of the $200,000 Great American Bank tournament at San Diego.

Garrison defeated Gretchen Magers, 7-5, 6-4.

Bunge, of Monaco, who has been sidelined by foot and knee injuries for portions of the last two years, defeated Ann Grossman, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Leading in the second set, 5-4, Grossman had a 30-15 edge on Bunge’s service, but Bunge hit three consecutive winners to pull even.

“She hit some unbelievable shots then,” Grossman said. “I guess it wasn’t meant to be for me.”

Bunge, once ranked sixth in the world, will play Graf next.

Tauziat, of France, beat Robin White of Del Mar, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (10-8).

Tauziat double-faulted to give White a match point at 6-5 in the tiebreaker. However, White did the same on her next serve.

Third-seeded Emilio Sanchez of Spain defeated countryman Sergio Bruguera, seeded fifth, 6-3, 6-2, in the quarterfinals of a $350,000 tournament at Kitzbuhel, Austria.

Seventh-seeded Martin Jaite of Argentina defeated Francisco Clavet of Spain, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3; No. 14 Goran Prpic of Yugoslavia beat Marian Vajda of Czechoslovakia, 6-0, 6-1, and No. 10 Javier Sanchez of Spain ousted Martin Strelba of Czechoslovakia, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.