TENNIS ROUNDUP : Stich Avoids Upset Trend and Turns Back Santoro

Wimbledon champion Michael Stich of Germany won a second-set tiebreaker to beat Fabrice Santoro of France, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), Wednesday in the Mercedes Cup tournament at Stuttgart, Germany.

In a series of upsets, Andres Gomez of Ecuador defeated fourth-seeded Goran Ivanisevic of Yugoslavia, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6; German Lopez of Spain beat another Spaniard, third-seeded Emilio Sanchez, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-2); Alberto Mancini of Argentina downed fifth-seeded Andrej Tscherkasov of the Soviet Union, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, and Cedric Pioline of France surprised sixth-seeded Karel Novacek of Czechoslovakia, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3.

John McEnroe enjoyed a 5-2 lead in the second set before being forced to scramble for a 6-3, 7-5 victory over 165th-ranked Brian Garrow, a three-time All-American at UCLA, in the $600,000 Sovran Bank Classic in Washington, D.C.

“I can’t say anything but that I choked a little bit,” McEnroe said.

With fluid ease, McEnroe stayed a step ahead of his opponent throughout the first set and a half, gliding to a 6-3, 5-2 lead.

But McEnroe had plenty of trouble trying to close out the match. Unable to convert three match points on his serve at 5-3, McEnroe later held to go up 6-5, and then broke Garrow to take the second set 7-5.

Third-seeded Brad Gilbert also advanced, beating John Sullivan, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Sixth-seeded Jaime Yzaga of Peru defeated Mark Knowles, 7-5, 6-1. Johan Carlsson of Sweden upset ninth-seeded Peter Lundgren, another Swede, 1-6, 6-2, 6-4; Grant Stafford of South Africa defeated No. 14 Scott Davis, 5-7, 7-5, 6-0, and Chuck Adams downed No. 15 Patrick Baur, 6-4, 6-4.