TENNIS : Wheaton Gets Shunned, Bruguera Gets Stunned

David Wheaton, shunned in the main draw of the $1.72 million ATP Championship, stunned top-seeded Sergi Bruguera on Thursday night, knocking out the Spanish clay-court specialist, 6-2, 6-3.

Wheaton, who had to advance through a local qualifier to get into the tournament, was unnerved by Bruguera’s fast play, and said he had trouble catching his breath on the hot, humid Stadium Court.

“I never really thought I was in control, like I had it in the bag,” Wheaton said. “The way he was serving, it was like machine gun fire. Later, he told me he was afraid if he slowed down he might get really lethargic.”

Bruguera, the French Open winner who has won three times this year on clay, is less comfortable on hard courts. He complained all week of being tired after traveling from his tournament victory in Prague.

Earlier, defending champion Michael Chang and third-seeded Michael Stich had their matches interrupted twice by rain before advancing to today’s quarterfinals.

Seventh-seeded Jim Courier came back from a 1 hour, 23-minute delay to beat Sandon Stolle of Australia, 6-3, 6-4.

“It is tough to keep your mind together when you have to go in three times,” said Stich of Germany, who beat Jim Grabb 6-2, 6-7 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4).

Chang, seeded fourth, beat 13th-seeded Cedric Pioline of France, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. On Friday, he will face Jason Stoltenberg of Australia, who beat 12th-seeded Wayne Ferreira of South Africa, 6-0, 6-1.

Stoltenberg is 16-3 in his past four tournaments and has moved up to a career-high 22nd in the rankings.

Second-seeded Stefan Edberg ousted MaliVai Washington 6-3, 6-4.

Eighth-seeded Boris Becker of Germany fell to Amos Mansdorf of Israel, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4.