Agassi Moves To Quarters

Andre Agassi again needed three sets, but advanced to the quarterfinals of the ATP Championship by beating Alex O’Brien 6-7 (7-5), 6-3, 6-0 at Mason, Ohio.

In two matches suspended during a midafternoon thunderstorm, third-seeded Michael Chang defeated Cristiano Caratti 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 and ninth-seeded Wayne Ferreira beat No. 8 Jim Courier 7-6 (11-9), 6-7 (7-4), 6-2.

Agassi, the defending ATP titlist, needed three sets to beat unheralded Magnus Larsson Wednesday. O’Brien, a tournament qualifier, had advanced to the round of 16 when MaliVai Washington withdrew with a back injury.

Agassi broke his racket in disgust after losing the first-set tiebreaker and became visibly more agressive with a new racket. He broke O’Brien’s serve in game four of the second set and served out relentlessly, if uneventfully.

In matches completed before the rain, second-seeded Thomas Muster, No. 4 Yevgeny Kafelnikov and No. 5 Goran Ivanisevic advanced.

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario won despite a bad elbow, but a hip injury proved too much for Jennifer Capriati in the du Maurier Open tennis tournament at Montreal.

Sanchez Vicario was treated early in her match for a stretched muscle in her right elbow, but bounced back to defeat 10thseeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa 7-5, 6-1. Capriati, in her first tournament since the French Open in May, retired in the second set against Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria after straining a muscle in her right hip.