TENNIS ROUNDUP : Once Again, Chang No Problem for Agassi

Andre Agassi, seeking his third singles title of the year, overpowered Michael Chang, 6-3, 6-1, Saturday night to join Jim Grabb in the finals of a $415,000 hardcourt tournament at Washington.

Agassi had no problem with Chang’s serve and used a strong baseline game to beat him for the fourth time without a defeat in matches between the two young American stars. Chang has won only one set in the four meetings.

Grabb reached the finals of a tournament for the first time in three years by defeating Brad Gilbert, 7-5, 0-6, 6-4. Grabb won the first set and, after a five-hour rain delay, shook off a bad second set to win the match.

Agassi, competing for the first time since a runner-up finish in the French Open, has not lost a set in four matches in reaching the finals.

Chang broke serve only once and Agassi won 10 of the last 12 games, breaking Chang four times in the stretch.

“I’ve played him enough to know what to expect,” Agassi said. “When I play my game against him, that seems to be enough.”

Chang had a chance to stay in the first set at 15-40 in the ninth game. But Agassi served an ace, drove a backhand winner past Chang and traded volleys with him before slicing a drop shot that gave him the first set.

Agassi lost only three points on his serve in the 29-minute second set. He broke Chang with four strong forehand winners to go up 4-1. He went to 5-1 with an ace and jumped on a Chang second serve with a forehand winner for the final break and the match.

Goran Ivanisevic of Yugoslavia beat Emilio Sanchez of Spain, 6-4, 6-4, to advance to the finals of a $1-million tournament at Stuttgart, West Germany.

Ivanisevic will meet Guillermo Perez-Roldan of Argentina, who survived two match points and won a third set tiebreaker to beat France’s Henri Leconte, 6-7 (7-3), 6-3, 7-6 (7-5).

Ivanisevic, ranked 24th in the world, served 10 aces and took only 74 minutes to beat Sanchez, ranked ninth in the world. Ivanisevic, who last month reached the semifinals at Wimbledon, is one victory away from his first Grand Prix title.

Ivanisevic, 18, pressured the 25-year-old Sanchez early from the net and baseline, gaining a break in the third game of the first set.

They traded breaks in the early games of the second set, but Ivanisevic gained the advantage as Sanchez began to tire because of the hot weather.

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario won nine of the final 11 games to beat Gretchen Magers, 6-3, 6-2, in the semifinals of a $225,000 grass court tournament at Newport, R.I.

Sanchez Vicario will play Jo Durie of England in today’s final. Durie defeated Anne Smith, 6-4, 6-1, in the other semifinal.

Sanchez Vicario and Magers were tied 3-3 in the first set when the 18-year-old Spaniard went on her 9-2 run that included three consecutive service breaks and four overall.

Durie, ranked 127th, battled back from a 4-2 deficit in the first set. She broke Smith’s service to get to 4-4, and then won the next seven games to take a 5-0 lead in the second set.

Durie, who was ranked as high as fifth in 1984, last appeared in a final in 1983.

“It’s been a long time,” Durie said, “but for me, it’s worth all the hard work, all the downs, tears and depression I’ve had.”