TENNIS ROUNDUP : Rostagno Outlasts Arias at Charlotte

Sixth-seeded Derrick Rostagno rallied from a two-game deficit in the third set to defeat Jimmy Arias, 6-7 (7-5), 6-4, 6-3, on Wednesday, advancing to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Men’s Clay Court championships at Charlotte, N.C.

Rostagno, ranked No. 72 in the world, trailed, 3-1, in the third set when he started rushing the net on almost every point. The strategy worked as he won five consecutive games, the last by breaking Arias at love to win the match.

“I just hung in there and hoped to get a break, and I did,” Rostagno said. “The turning point was when I broke him back at 2-3 (in the third set).”

After winning the first set, Arias appeared on his way to a straight-set upset when he held serve in the seventh game of the second set to lead, 4-3.

But Rostagno held serve to make it 4-4 and then won two consecutive 14-point, four-deuce games to take the second set.

“I might have run out of gas mentally,” Arias said. “I don’t know what happened. I got up 3-1 . . . and all of a sudden things came crashing down.”

Others advancing were second-seeded Todd Martin, third-seeded Jaime Yzaga and Mikael Pernfors. David Witt, who beat top-seeded and defending champion MaliVai Washington on Tuesday, was eliminated by Claudio Mezzadri.

Patrick McEnroe, a wild-card entry, upset eighth-seeded Jan Siemerink of the Netherlands, 6-4, 6-4, to advance to the quarterfinals of a tournament in Hong Kong.

McEnroe, ranked 118th in the world, will play defending champion Jim Courier in the quarterfinals. Courier, ranked second, advanced with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Britain’s Jeremy Bates.

Boris Becker was bounced from his first tournament in two months, losing in the second round of the Nice Open to Franco Davin of Argentina, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Becker, ranked fourth in the world, has not completed a tournament since pulling out of the Eurocard Open in mid-February because of a viral infection.

In other matches, No. 5-seeded Ivan Lendl beat defending champion Gabriel Markus of Argentina, 6-2, 6-2; No. 7 Fabrice Santoro defeated Renzo Furlan of Italy, 6-3, 6-4, and No. 3 Petr Korda of the Czech Republic eliminated German qualifier Dirk Dier, 6-4, 6-7 (7-9), 6-1.