TENNIS ROUNDUP : Top-Seeded Agassi Beats Stark at San Francisco

Top-seeded Andre Agassi, whose match began two hours later than its advertised 8:30 p.m. PST target, struggled through a tiebreaker to defeat Jonathan Stark, 6-2, 7-6 (9-7), Monday in the first round of the Volvo San Francisco.

Agassi had a hard act to follow. In the previous match, Sweden’s Bjorn Borg lost to Brazil’s Jaime Oncins, 6-4, 6-7 (7-5), 6-4, in 2 hours, 15 minutes--by far the longest test for Borg in a decade.

Borg’s second-set victory was his first in a Assn. of Tennis Professionals Tour match since 1983. Borg, 36, was 0-8 without a winning set in 1992, the first year of his return.

“I’m just happy to know for sure that I can play good tennis,” Borg said. “It was just a matter of knowing when I could do it in a match. I know what I can do in practice.”

Oncins led, 7-6, in the tiebreaker before Borg found enough reserve to score three straight points, two on stunning overheads at the net.

“My goal is to play this good tennis every time,” Borg said. “You still have goals. If you play competitive tennis, every time you want to win.”

Agassi, 43-14 this year in match play, will face Patrick McEnroe in today’s second round.

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At Marseille, France, top-seeded Ivan Lendl, rebounding from a first-round loss at the Australian Open, swept Kenneth Carlsen, 6-3, 6-4.

Carlsen, ranked 64th in the world, had reached the fourth round of the Australian Open.

Sergi Bruguera, seeded second, beat Martin Damm, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. No. 4 Amos Mansdorf beat Mikael Stadling, 6-4, 6-2, and No. 7 Jakob Hlasek beat Olivier Delaitre, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.

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Third-seeded Martina Navratilova needed two hours to defeat Japanese qualifier Ai Sugiyama in the first round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open at Yokohama, Japan.

“It was my first game in two months and I felt nervous. Much more nervous than usual. I don’t know why,” Navratilova said.

No. 4 Jana Novotna defeated Japanese wild-card entry Kyoko Nagatsuka, 6-0, 6-1, No. 5 Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere beat Michelle Jaggard-Lai, 6-3, 6-3, and Louise Allen lost to Andrea Temesvari-Trunkos of Hungary, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.