TENNIS ROUNDUP : Top Seeds Advance in Arizona

Third-seeded MaliVai Washington overcame seven double faults and a strong effort from Marcelo Filippini for a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Purex Tennis Championships at Scottsdale, Ariz.

Later Thursday, second-seeded Andre Agassi needed only 72 minutes to eliminate Keith Evans, 6-1, 6-3.

No. 7 Emilio Sanchez of Spain and Australian Mark Woodforde also had straight-set victories in the $275,000 ATP Tour stop.

Sanchez needed tiebreakers to eliminate Gabriel Marcos, 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (14-12). Sanchez, who lost in the quarterfinals to Brad Gilbert last year, will play Agassi.

Woodforde, who won the U.S. Indoor tournament in Philadelphia last week, continued his streak with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Luiz Mattar of Brazil.

Woodforde and Washington will meet in the quarterfinals today along with No. 8 Andrei Chesnokov against unseeded American Derrick Rostagno and No. 5 Gilbert against South African Marcos Ondruska.

Michael Chang used an improving serve to defeat No. 1-ranked Jim Courier, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, in an exhibition match at the Forum.

“My body is still growing, and that’s the reason my serve is getting better,” the fifth-ranked Chang said after the match played before 6,296.

Second-seeded Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia advanced to the quarterfinals of the World Tennis Tournament at Rotterdam, Netherlands, with a 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5) victory over unseeded Amos Mansdorf of Israel.

Anders Jarryd of Sweden easily moved into the quarterfinals, defeating Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands, 6-3, 6-4.

Goran Prpic of Croatia, who upset No. 4 seeded Richard Krajicek on Wednesday, lost, 6-2, 6-3, to Russian Andrei Olhovskiy. Olhovskiy, ranked 87th in the world, will play Alexander Volkov in an all-Russian quarterfinal today.

Third-seeded Judith Wiesner advanced to the quarterfinals of an indoor tournament at Linz, Austria, with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Laura Golarsa of Italy.

Wiesner’s next opponent will be unseeded Kristie Boogert of the Netherlands, who defeated Britain’s Jo Durie, 7-5, 6-4.