TENNIS ROUNDUP : Agassi Starts Slowly, Finishes Reneberg, 7-6, 6-0

Top-seeded Andre Agassi fought off five set points before defeating Richey Reneberg, 7-6 (7-4), 6-0, Friday to join Michael Chang, Brad Gilbert and Jim Grabb in the semifinals of the Sovran Bank Classic in Washington.

Gilbert, seeded second and a finalist here in 1987 and 1989, ousted Michael Stich of West Germany, 6-3, 6-4, and sixth-seeded Grabb defeated Derrick Rostagno, 6-4, 6-3.

Fifth-seeded Chang beat 14th-seeded Todd Witsken, 6-3, 6-4, and will meet Agassi for the first time since their quarterfinal match in the French Open in May.

Agassi, competing for the first since his runner-up finish at the French Open, hasn’t lost a set in this week, but the seventh-seeded Reneberg pushed him through a 63-minute first set.

Reneberg used two consecutive aces to go ahead, 6-5. But Agassi survived a 22-point game, recovering from 15-40 with a service winner and using a backhand volley to get the first of nine deuces in the game.

Reneberg had two more chances for the break, but Agassi recovered and finally hit Reneberg’s volley deep with his forehand for the winner to make it 6-6. They stayed even through the tiebreaker until Reneberg hit a backhand volley long to make it 5-4, and Agassi served out the set.

Agassi carried the momentum into the second set, breaking Reneberg immediately and twice more before finishing the set in 30 minutes.

Gilbert gave up only three points on his serve in the first set and never lost his serve.

Rostagno, playing fewer than 24 hours after his second consecutive victory over John McEnroe, maintained his reputation for losing to lesser players after big upsets.

Grabb kept up a steady serve-and-volley attack as Rostagno missed the corners that helped him beat McEnroe.

Grabb took the first set when Rostagno missed an open court with a backhand attempt behind the running Grabb.

A questionable line call helped Grabb hold his serve at 3-2 in the second set, and he broke the fading Rostagno at love to take control.

Third-seeded Emilio Sanchez of Spain defeated Marcelo Filippini of Uruguay, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, and advanced to the semifinals of the $1-million ATP Mercedes Cup at Stuttgart, West Germany.

Sanchez will meet 10th-seeded Goran Ivanisevic of Yugoslavia, who beat Eric Jelen of West Germany, 6-2, 6-3, in 51 minutes.

In the other quarterfinal matches, 12th-seeded Henri Leconte of France struggled past Andrei Cherkasov of the Soviet Union, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, and ninth-seed Guillermo Perez-Roldan of Argentina downed Horst Skoff of Austria, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).