TENNIS ROUNDUP : Stich Near Defeat When Match Delayed by Rain

Second-seeded Michael Stich, the new Wimbledon champion, was on the verge of elimination against Karel Novacek when rain delayed the completion of their quarterfinal match Friday in the $305,000 Swiss Open.

Novacek will have a 6-3, 5-4 lead when the match resumes today at Gstaad, Switzerland.

Earlier Friday, Stich defeated Czechoslovak qualifier Daniel Vacek, 6-4, 6-0, in a second-round match delayed from Thursday by rain. Novacek finished his rain-delayed match by beating Claudio Mezzadri of Switzerland, 6-3, 6-2.

In other matches, top-seeded Sergi Bruguera of Spain beat Andres Gomez of Ecuador, 7-6 (7-0), 7-6 (7-3). Bruguera will next play fourth-seeded Goran Ivanisevic.

No. 5 Emilio Sanchez of Spain will play the winner of the Stich-Novacek match.

At Newport, R.I., Mark Shelton and Mark Kratzmann each used powerful serves to pull quarterfinal upsets in the $150,000 Hall of Fame championships.

Kratzmann held his serve throughout to defeat fourth-seeded Jacco Eltingh, 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4. Shelton beat No. 5 Christo van Rensburg, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

“That’s as good as I’ve played in a long time,” said Kratzmann, an Australian who reached his first semifinal since February of 1990.

At Bastad, Sweden, Alberto Mancini of Argentina defeated last year’s Swedish Open finalist, Magnus Larsson, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. In the semifinals, Mancini will face Alexander Volkov.

In an all-Swedish quarterfinal, Christian Bergstrom lost a set for the first time this week but beat Jan Gunnarsson, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. Bergstrom will next play another Swede, Magnus Gustafsson.