TENNIS ROUNDUP : Gomez Finally Wakes Up and Reaches U.S. Pro Final

Andres Gomez of Ecuador, one game from elimination, fought back to beat Sweden’s Tobias Svantesson, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, Saturday in the semifinals of the U.S. Pro Tennis Championships at Brookline, Mass.

Gomez, seeded seventh, will face the winner of the match between top-seeded Andre Cherkasov of the Soviet Union and No. 5 Jimmy Arias. That semifinal will be completed this morning after being interrupted by rain with Cherkasov leading, 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 2-1.

Gomez, who trailed, 2-5, after losing the first set, broke Svantesson in the ninth game and eventually forced the tiebreaker.

Svantesson broke Gomez in the 10th game of the match to win the first set. Gomez saved two break points in that game before finally falling short.

He showed his anger by pounding a ball into the grandstand. The action resulted in his being penalized for court violation.

“I played last night and did not get much sleep,” Gomez said. “Tobias always goes for the winners, and I couldn’t seem to do anything to stop him in that first set.”

But Gomez regained his composure. In the tiebreaker, Svantesson led, 5-3, when he made several decisive forehand errors. He netted three forehands from the baseline and erred on a final overhead as he attacked the net.

Top-seeded Sergi Bruguera of Spain was upset in three sets by unheralded German Marcus Zillner, who advanced to the quarterfinals of the rain-marred tournament at Kitzbuehel, Austria, 6-1, 1-6, 6-2.

Zillner, 21, is unseeded in the clay-court tournament.

Also advancing in the $375,00 event were Spain’s Emilio Sanchez, Argentina’s Martin Jaite and Sweden’s Magnus Gustafsson.

Jaite will face Sanchez, who defeated Richard Vogl of Czechoslovakia, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. Jaite defeated Christian Bergstrom of Sweden, 6-4, 6-3.

Rain that frequently interrupted play wasn’t the only gripe for local fans. Austrian Thomas Muster, seeded 14th, fell in the third round to Gustafsson, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.