Tennis Roundup : Chang Dealt Worst Defeat by Evernden

New Zealand’s Kelly Evernden scored the biggest upset of his career Friday, defeating second-seeded Michael Chang, 6-0, 6-1, to move into the semifinals of a $425,000 tennis tournament in San Francisco.

It was also the worst defeat that the 17-year old French Open champion from Placentia has endured in his pro career.

Evernden joined third-seeded Brad Gilbert, fifth-seeded Kevin Curren and unseeded Anders Jarryd of Sweden in the semifinals.

Gilbert beat sixth-seeded Cristo Van Rensburg of South Africa, 7-5, 6-3.

Curren had 22 unreturnable first serves, of the 31 he put into the court, to down Jim Grabb, 6-2, 6-3.

Jarryd defeated Derrick Rostagno, 6-2, 3-2, when Rostagno quit because of a sore elbow.

The hard-hitting Evernden, ranked 65th in the world, appeared to be as surprised by his performance as anyone.

“I’m usually reckless on the court,” he said. “I don’t hit the ball in the court that often. But I had a dream day. I could do no wrong. I do tend to do better against better players, and I knew I had a good chance because of Michael’s serve.”

Ivan Lendl, showing his best form in two weeks, defeated Henri Leconte of France, 6-2, 6-3, in the quarterfinals of a $255,000 tournament at Bordeaux, France.

In other quarterfinal matches, Jean-Philippe Fleurian of France continued his string of upsets, beating fifth-seeded Goran Prpic of Yugoslavia, 6-2, 6-3, and Spain’s Emilio Sanchez downed countryman Tomas Carbonell, 6-0, 6-2.

Peru’s Jaime Yzaga, seeded fourth, turned back Brazilian Casio Motta, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, and will meet Lendl in the semifinals.

Lendl, the No. 1-ranked player in the world, dominated Leconte, a former French Open finalist, from the start in beating him for the sixth straight time. Leconte is on the comeback trail after a back operation in April.

Earlier in the tournament, Fleurian, ranked No. 111, defeated No. 3-seeded Horst Skoff of Austria.

Yugoslav teen-ager Goran Ivanisevic rallied to upset top-seeded Alberto Mancini of Argentina, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, in the quarterfinals of a $123,400 tournament at Palermo, Sicily.

The eighth-seeded Ivanisevic, 18, capitalized on a series of errors by Mancini to win despite being down one set and trailing, 4-1, in the second.