TENNIS ROUNDUP : It’s Not the Heat, It’s Humility for Lendl

Ivan Lendl, trying to rediscover the form that once made him the world’s No. 1-ranked tennis player, found nothing but problems Wednesday.

Former NCAA singles champion Robbie Weiss knocked out the top-seeded Lendl in the second round of the Newsweek Tennis Classic at Washington.

Weiss broke service in the ninth game of the third set to take the lead, then came back after failing to convert two match points to post a 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory.

“I just couldn’t get used to the humidity,” Lendl said. “I came (to Washington) from Boston, where it was cool and dry, and it takes four or five days to get used to it.”

Weiss, a seven-year pro from Atlanta who won the 1988 NCAA singles crown while playing for Pepperdine, came into the tournament ranked 138th in the world. Lendl was ranked sixth.

Other seeded players to lose were No. 5 Alexander Volkov of Russia, who was defeated by Mark Knowles of the Bahamas, 6-3, 6-3; No. 13 Derrick Rostagno, who fell to David Nainkin, a South African who attends UCLA, 6-0, 6-3; and No. 14 Jaime Yzaga of Peru, who lost to Jeff Tarango, 6-1, 7-6.

Andre Agassi and Mal Washington, who were named to the U.S. Davis Cup team earlier in the day, advanced to the third round.

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French Open winner Sergi Bruguera’s lackluster play at the Mercedes Cup at Stuttgart, Germany, may cost him more than a defeat to countryman Alberto Berasategui.

In the third set of the 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 loss, the world’s fifth-ranked player and tournament’s top-seeded player appeared to give up while trailing, 2-1. Bruguera shocked the 5,200 spectators by giving away the remaining games, often without appearing to attempt to keep the ball in play.

“I was really tired, simply tired and couldn’t play any better,” Bruguera said.

But ATP Tour supervisor Ed Hardisty said Bruguera’s lack of effort will be investigated, with the possibility of the Spaniard being fined or suspended.

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The United States overcame a lapse by Lori McNeil and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Federation Cup at Frankfurt, Germany, with a 2-1 victory over China.

McNeil, bothered by a sore hip, was upset by Fang Li, ranked 94th in the world, after blowing a match point. Fang won, 2-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-0.

But McNeil returned to the court 30 minutes later to play doubles with Lindsay Davenport for the first time, and the two posted a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Li Chen and Jing-Qian Yi to clinch the best-of-three series.

Davenport, a Federation Cup rookie from Murrieta, Calif., got the fifth-seeded U.S. team off to a good start with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Ying Bi.

The Americans have won the Federation Cup title a record 14 times. In today’s quarterfinals, the U.S. team faces Argentina.

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Top-seeded Maria Geyer of Austria beat Cindy Leprevost of Cooper City, Fla., 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) to gain the quarterfinals in the 40 Division of the USTA Women’s Grass Court Championships at New York.