Tennis Roundup : Wilander Rallies to Beat Perez and Gain Quarterfinals

After trailing in both sets, Mats Wilander struggled to a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Diego Perez in the third round of the $375,000 U.S. Clay Court tennis tournament Thursday at Indianapolis.

The top-seeded Swede was a point away from losing the first set before breaking back. Wilander trailed, 3-1, in the second set before winning on repeated errors by the 16th-seeded Spaniard.

In other matches between seeded players, No. 4 Martin Jaite ousted No. 14 Andre Agassi, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, and No. 5 Joakim Nystrom beat No.12 Guillermo Vilas, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.

Richey Reneberg moved into the quarterfinals against Wilander with a 7-6, 6-0 victory over Blaine Willenborg, and No. 3 Kent Carlsson advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Javier Frana. Carlsson will play Patrick Kuhnen, who beat Jimmy Brown, 6-3, 6-4.

Gary Muller, who upset Andres Gomez Wednesday, defeated Christian Miniussi, 7-6, 6-3, and advanced to the quarterfinals against 10th-seeded Guillermo Perez-Roldan, who defeated Libor Pimek, 6-3, 6-0.

At Stuttgart, West Germany, top-seeded Miloslav Mecir breezed into the quarterfinals of the $231,000 Mercedes Cup tournament with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Thomas Muster.

Second-seeded Henri Leconte rallied to beat Damir Keretic, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, while Jan Gunnarsson upset fourth-seeded Brad Gilbert, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

Lori McNeil defeated Jane Forman, 7-6, 6-3, to advance to the quarterfinals of a $150,000 Virginia Slims tournament at Newport, R.I.

McNeil, seeded No. 2, won despite 14 double-faults.