Tennis Roundup : Gilbert Beats Wheaton, Faces Pugh in Today’s Final

Brad Gilbert, the only high-seeded player left in the Volvo International tennis tournament at Stratton Mountain, Vt., took advantage of David Wheaton’s match-point double fault Saturday to join Jim Pugh in today’s final.

Gilbert, who was runner-up last week in Washington, was pushed to three sets by Wheaton, a surprise semifinalist who upset top-seeded Andre Agassi in the third round Thursday. Gilbert won, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

Pugh, ranked first in the world in doubles but only 59th in singles, double faulted on his first match point but beat Jim Grabb, 6-2, 6-4, with a service winner.

Gilbert, the tournament’s third-seeded player, and Pugh play today for the $114,000 first prize. The runner-up will receive $57,000.

Wheaton, a Minneapolis native ranked 122nd in the world in his second year as a pro, broke Gilbert twice in the first set and went up, 3-0, in the second before Gilbert battled back with passing shots and an occasional ace.

Gilbert took the tiebreaker with a passing shot and broke Wheaton in the fourth and 10th games of the third set.

“It was a combination of him (raising) his game a little bit and me being a little nervous and a little tentative,” Wheaton said. “I missed a couple of shots when I needed to make them, and usually I do make those shots. But today I had a little more trouble making them.”

Gilbert, ranked 11th in the world, said of Wheaton: “He has a big serve and does a lot of things well. I think for him to make the big improvement like Chang or Agassi, he needs to have more speed.”

Second-seeded Michael Chang was ousted by Grabb in the quarterfinals Friday.

Pugh, who is seeded 14th, has overcome great odds to make it to the final. He was down, 4-3, in the third set of two of his previous matches and fought off two match points in a third.

“I hadn’t played for two weeks, and I was a little rusty in the beginning,” said Pugh, 25, who won his first singles title only three weeks ago in Newport, R.I. “Now I feel like I’m just lucky to still be in the tournament, let alone in the final. So I’m a lot looser now.”

Both he and Grabb were bothered by gusty winds on Stratton Mountain, which affected their serve-and-volley games. But Pugh was steadier, breaking Grabb three times in the first set.

“I definitely had a hard time feeling the ball out there, and he kept the ball in play,” said Grabb, of Tucson, who is ranked 114th. “It didn’t seem to affect him. I don’t know if it’s two hands (on the racket), or what it is.”

Pugh uses two hands on both forehand and backhand shots.

Third-seeded Emilio Sanchez of Spain beat countryman Javier Sanchez, seeded No. 10, 6-1, 6-4, and seventh-seeded Martin Jaite of Argentina defeated No. 14 Goran Prpic of Yugoslavia, 0-6, 6-4, 6-3, in the semifinals of a $350,000 tournament at Kitzbuhel, Austria.