European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 4, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The stars and stripes june 4, 1992 b Page 32 i Agassi courier Advance Paris apr defending Champion Jim courier survived his first Tough match of the French open today overcoming Goran Ivanisevic 6-2, 6-1, 2-6, 75 to set up a semifinal showdown with Andre Agassi. Agassi who lost to courier in last years final powered past struggling Pete Sampras on a rain dampened court to reach the semifinals for the third straight year. Courier easily won the first two sets against Ivanisevic late tuesday then committed a rare string of errors while Ivanisevic settled Down to win the third before play was halted by darkness. It was the first set lost by courier the top seed in his five matches so far. In the fourth set wednesday Ivanisevic got an Early service break then faltered As courier regained Confidence. Sampras became discouraged by a loss in a first set tic Brcak and Agassi breezed to a 7-6 7-56-2, 6-1 Victory in just under two hours. Agassi won the last six games of the third set which took Only 28 minutes. A the first set was the key a Sampras said. A if id won it something could have happened. After i lost it i had a letdown. 1 got a bit discouraged in the  Agassi a with a stronger backhand a had the Edge in Baseline exchanges. Sampras usually potent serve often failed him and the wet balls repeatedly broke strings on his rackets. �?o1 stayed intense and stayed focused a i had the help of a lot of Luck a Agassi said citing a smash which hit the top of the net then landed on the sideline to Clinch the tic Brcak for him. Sampras was seeded third based on his world ranking As a hard court Maestro but Agassi the no. 11 seed was favored due to his virtuosity on Clay. The two americans teammates on the . Davis cup squad had split their Goran Ivanisevic Falls trying to return a Ball to Jim courier tuesday. Courier triumphed when play resumed wednesday. Previous six matches but Agassi had won both those played on Clay. The match began More than an hour late because of rain and was halted for 30 minutes at the Start of the third set by another Shower. Both players had asked for a delay and Agassi borrowed an umbrella from a fan to make his Point. Agassi reached the finals Here the past two years losing in 1990 to Andres Gomez and last year to courier. A this year could be my Chance a Agassi said. Quot i m certainly playing Well enough to do it a rain has now disrupted play on seven of the 10 Days of the tournament. Officials said it was the most rain disrupted French open since 1973, when the final won by romanians Hie Anatase was played two Days late. It appeared at least one of the last two menus quarterfinals might be pushed Back to thursday. Henri Leconte of France was scheduled to play Nicklas Kulti of Sweden and Andrei Cherkasov of Russia was paired against Czechoslovakia a seventh seeded Petr Korda the Only seed left in the Bottom half of the draw. The four top seeded women won their matches tuesday to set up a re run of last years semifinals. In one pairing thursday top seeded Monica Seles of Yugoslavia seeking her third straight title faces third seeded Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina. In the other second seeded Steffi Graf of Germany will try to avenge her worst defeat As a pro a 6-0, 6-2 loss on Center court last year to fourth seeded Aranta Sanchez Vicario of Spain. Graf probably has the strongest motivation As she seeks to make amends for last years semifinal embarrassment. That was the second time she had Tost on the Center court at Stade Roland Garros to Sanchez Vicario a the first was when the spaniard won the title As a 17-year-old in 1989. A this is a different year and we re both playing Well a Sanchez Vicario said. A a in be beat her Here both times on Center court and 1 feel very comfortable. In a just going to play my game and try to be aggressive and see if i can  Graf found reason for satisfaction in her 6-3, 6-7 7-46-3 Victory Over Natalia Zvereva of Belarus even though she dropped her first set in five matches a a in a definitely in the shape i want to be Quot she said. �?o1 think i needed to have a Tough close match which will definitely help me for the next  Sabatini also lost her first set of the tournament and trailed 0-3 in the second set before making a spectacular comeback to beat seventh seeded con Chita Martinez of Spain 3-6,6-3,6-2. In her first four matches Sabatini had lost Only nine games. A before i did no to have any Tough player to play against Quot she said. A now that in be had a Tough match in a More prepared for the . The next will bring her up against Seles who had Little trouble beating 16-year-old Jennifer Capriati of the United states 6-2,6-2. Though Seles has lost Only two of her 38 matches this season one was to Sabatini on Clay at the italian open last month. A Gaby is sure playing great Tennis Quot Seles said. A i saw Ner play today and she is in Good form. A my form its hard to say. The court Here is different a lot of things Are different so i have a Little bit of a bettor  beat Sabatini 6-4, 6-1 in last years semifinal then topped Sanchez Vicario 6-3, 6-4 for the  Post win Over slumping cards Cincinnati at the Cincinnati reds proved they can Stop the St. Louis cardinals dangerous running game when they Pirt their minds to it. Cincinnati threw out two Hase runners and picked off two More cashing in on a spate of mistakes for a 2-1 Victory tuesday night Over the slumping cardinals. The reds took Over sole leadership of the National league West and won for the seventh time in eight games. They did it by scoring two unearned runs and stifling the top running game in the National league. A a you be got to try to beat Speed with see Page 30 for tuesdays other a or league games intelligence Quot shortstop Barry Larkin said. A a that a what we  Tim Belcher 5-5 won for the fourth Lime in five decisions by allowing seven hits Over eight innings and holding the cardinals baserunners close. Rob Dibble pitched the ninth and picked Geronimo Pena off second base with one out to get his seventh save. The cardinals also gave up two runs by mistakes and wound up losing for the fifth time in six games. Tom Pagnozzi a passed Ball let in a run in the second and right fielder Felix Jose a error set up Bip Roberts sacrifice Fly in the fifth. Belcher turned in his second consecutive Strong performance. He gave up just three hits in 8v3 innings of a 1-0 Victory last wednesday in new York and he took a shutout into the eighth on tuesday. The scoreless Streak ended at 15 innings when Ozzie Smith scored on Jose a grounder. Jose Deleon 2-5 allowed just six hits and no earned runs Over six  sport sports Boycott hurting Yugoslavia a Page 26 Fullerton Texas Advance in cos Page 26ben Abrams prep pickings Page 29japan team reportedly eyeing Ryan a Page 31