TENNIS ROUNDUP : Agassi Ill, Drops Out of Match

Andre Agassi, the highest remaining seed in the $1-million U.S. Pro Indoor tournament in Philadelphia, quit suddenly because of food poisoning Thursday night, handing a 5-7, 7-5 victory to 13th-seeded Pete Sampras.

Suellen Foley, a spokeswoman for the tournament, said Agassi had eaten pasta Thursday at a Philadelphia restaurant and had had a banana afterward.

“It’s not the way I would have liked to have won, but I’ll take it,” Sampras said. “I don’t get very many freebies playing top 10 guys.”

Sampras said he had noticed Agassi slowing in the second set, but thought he would keep playing. Agassi, seeded No. 3 in the tournament, joined top-seeded John McEnroe and second-seeded Brad Gilbert on the sidelines. Fourth-seeded Jay Berger defeated Wally Masur Thursday.

Earlier, fifth-seeded Tim Mayotte rallied from a first-set loss to defeat Glenn Layendecker, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), and gain a quarterfinal berth. In other matches, Richey Reneberg, the player who ousted McEnroe on Wednesday, lost to Mark Kratzmann, 6-4, 6-4; and eighth-seeded Jim Courier needed four match points to beat 10th-seeded Christo van Rensburg, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

Ivan Lendl and Boris Becker both struggled before advancing to the quarterfinals of the ATP Eurocard tournament at Stuttgart, West Germany.

Lendl, ranked No. 1 in the world, had a tough time beating Goran Prpic of Yugoslavia, 7-5, 6-4.

Becker, seeded second, had to win the last three games to beat hard-hitting Alexander Volkov of the Soviet Union, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

In other action, Jonas Svensson of Sweden upset Yannick Noah of France, 6-2, 6-4, and Aki Rahunen of Finland reached the final eight of a major event for the first time by defeating Amos Mansdorf of Israel, 6-2, 6-4.

Rahunen, 18 and ranked 138th in the world, came through this tournament’s qualifying competition and is such a longshot that the wrong picture appeared with his biography in the official player guide produced by the ATP Tour.

Zina Garrison used a near-flawless serve-and-volley game to defeat Australia’s Liz Smylie, 6-0, 6-1, and move into the quarterfinals of the Virginia Slims of Washington.

Garrison, the No. 2 seed and fourth-ranked player in the world, lost only 13 points on her serve and won 26 of 33 points at the net in dispatching Smylie in 49 minutes.

In other second-round matches, Nathalie Tauziat of France allowed only one service break in a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Italy’s Linda Ferrando, and Anne Smith won the last four games en route to a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Claudia Kohde-Kilsch.