TENNIS ROUNDUP : Witt, an Amateur, Pushes Arias to Limit

Sixth-seeded Jimmy Arias rallied to down amateur David Witt, 6-7 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3), 6-1, Wednesday in the second round of the $225,000 Prudential Securities tournament at Orlando, Fla.

Witt, competing in his fourth pro event, won the first set when Arias had four unforced errors in the tiebreaker, then reached break point on Arias’ serve at 4-4 in the second set. “I was thinking, ‘Geez, if he gets this point, he’s going to win the match,’ and I felt that would have been a shame since I felt like I was starting to read his serve a lot better,” Arias said.

“I felt like I had a great chance to win if I could just get through the second set. Once I got his serve back into play, I had a better than 50% chance to win the point, and I was starting to do that.”

Witt, who would have been serving for the match had he converted the point, netted a backhand volley, and Arias went on to take the game and gain control.

In another match, eighth-seeded David Pate got past Jeff Tarango, 6-2, 6-7 (7-4), 6-1.

Eduardo Masso of Belgium surprised third-seeded Michael Stich of Germany, 7-5, 6-3, in the first round of the Hong Kong Open.

Anders Jarryd of Sweden withdrew as after pulling a calf muscle while losing the first set to Patrick Kuhnen of Germany, 6-7 (7-5).

Seventh-seeded Amos Mansdorf of Israel beat Italy’s Gianluca Pozzi, 6-3, 6-7 (7-5), 6-4; Alex Antonitsch of Austria defeated Todd Witsken, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3); and Gary Muller of South Africa eliminated Tommy Ho, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3.

Federica Bonsignori of Italy upset fifth-seeded Katerina Maleeva, 6-7 (7-3), 6-2, 6-4, in the second round of the Family Circle Magazine Cup at Hilton Head Island, S.C.

In another upset, Halle Cioffi beat No. 12 Isabel Cueto of West Germany, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.