TENNIS ROUNDUP : Sabatini Beats Capriati in Italian Open

Gabriela Sabatini fought off a late charge by 14-year-old Jennifer Capriati for a 6-2, 7-5 victory Friday night in the quarterfinals of the women’s Italian Open in Rome.

Capriati came back from a 5-3 deficit in the second set, but Sabatini took control, moving the 14-year-old from side to side and waiting for her to make an error.

Also advancing were top-seeded Martina Navratilova, No. 2 Monica Seles and No. 11 Helen Kelesi. Navratilova beat sixth-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain, 6-2, 6-0; Seles beat No. 5 Manuela Maleeva of Bulgaria, 6-0, 6-2, and Kelesi beat No. 13 Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden, 6-4, 6-3.

Second-seeded Andre Agassi was upset by Magnus Gustafsson of Sweden in a rain-interrupted third-round match at the German Open in Hamburg, West Germany.

Agassi, trailing 7-6, 4-4 when the match was halted Thursday, lost, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-5). Gustafsson then was beaten in the quarterfinals by Juan Aguilera of Spain, 6-1, 6-4. Aguilera earlier in the day completed a rain-interrupted upset of Jim Courier, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.

In other matches, top-seeded Boris Becker beat Jimmy Arias, 6-3, 6-1, and Guy Forget of France upset fifth-seeded Jay Berger, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, and will play Aguilera in today’s semifinals. Henri Leconte of France beat Franco Davin of Argentina, 6-3, 6-3, to earn a semifinal berth against Becker.

David Wheaton rallied to beat Jeff Tarango, his doubles partner at Stanford, 6-2, 6-7 (10-8), 7-6 (9-7), to reach the semifinals of the men’s U.S. Clay Court Championships at Kiawah Island, S.C.