TENNIS ROUNDUP : Kulti Earns Biggest Upset, Beating Agassi, 6-3, 7-5

Nicklas Kulti, the 1989 world junior champion, earned the biggest victory of his short career Wednesday, upsetting third-seeded Andre Agassi, 6-3, 7-5, in the second round of the Stockholm Open.

“I played incredibly well, especially on my backhand,” said Kulti, a 19-year-old Swede ranked 76th in the world. “But I don’t think he played 100%.”

Agassi, a finalist in both the French and U.S. Opens this year, did not. He was playing his first match in three weeks after straining his lower back in early October.

“I was not as prepared as I could have been,” said Agassi, ranked fourth in the world. “I was hoping to get through the early matches to get into the groove. But that’s expecting a lot when you haven’t played a lot.

“I’m disappointed, but he beat me fair and square.”

Stefan Edberg, the world’s top-ranked player, rallied from a slow start to beat Mats Wilander, 6-4, 6-3. Boris Becker, No. 2 seeded, dropped only two games, but John McEnroe was extended to three sets in other second-round matches.

Wilander, meeting Edberg for the first time since losing to him in the Australian Open semifinals in January, raced to a 4-1 lead in the first set.

But Edberg was only one service break down and “I was never really worried, although I was a little bit nervous early on,” he said.

Becker, the 1988 champion from Germany, defeated Darren Cahill of Australia, 6-2, 6-0, winning 10 consecutive points to pull away from 2-2 in the opening set.

McEnroe, playing in Stockholm for the first time since 1985--when he won a record fourth singles title--beat Karel Novacek, 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 7-5.

McEnroe said he didn’t lose concentration in the second set.

“I basically choked,” he said. “He picked up on my serve and guessed pretty well. His confidence picked up and suddenly it was a totally different match.”

Steffi Graf advanced to the quarterfinals of the Brighton, England, WITA tournament with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Nathalie Herreman of France.

In other second-round play, second-seeded Katerina Maleeva of Bulgaria beat British qualifier Kaye Hand, 6-2, 6-2, and sixth-seeded Sandra Cecchini of Italy ousted Sandra Dopfer of Austria, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3.

In first-round matches, third-seeded Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia defeated Soviet player Viktoria Milvidskaia, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), and fifth-seeded Nathalie Tauziat of France overwhelmed Britain’s Sarah Loosemore, 6-1, 6-2.

Unseeded Florencia Labat used a strong baseline game to oust fifth-seeded Raffaela Reggi, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), for the second upset in two days at the $150,000 Puerto Rico Open at San Juan.

Third-seeded Amy Frazier had fallen to South African Elna Reinach Tuesday night.

In first-round matches, top-seeded Zina Garrison struggled to a 6-3, 7-5 win over Bulgarian Elena Pampoulova; No. 4 Helen Kelesi of Canada beat American Camille Benjamin, 6-4, 6-1, and Meredith McGrath topped Soviet Natalia Medvedeva, 7-5, 6-4.