Sporting Digest: Tennis

ANDRE AGASSI, the 1992 Wimbledon champion who has slipped to 21st in the world rankings, was beaten 4-6,

6-3, 6-4 by Aaron Krickstein in the third round of the Newsweek Tennis Classic in Washington on Thursday.

JANA NOVOTNA lost her nerve under pressure in Frankfurt yesterday as France beat Czechoslovakia to reach the Federation Cup semi-finals. She served a double fault at 3-3, 30-30 in the deciding set of the singles' match which led to Natalie Tauziat taking a 4-3 lead. The world No 8 then double- faulted again on match point to give Tauziat a 6-1, 0-6, 6-3 victory, which secured France a 2-0 winning lead.

FEDERATION CUP WOMEN'S TEAM TOURNAMENT (Frankfurt) Quarter-final: Spain bt Netherlands 3-0 (C Martinez bt S Rottier 7-6

6-3; A Sanchez-Vicario bt M Oremans 7-6 6-0; V Ruano and C Torrens bt K Boogert and M Bollegraf 6-7 7-6 6-4). France bt Czech Republic / Slovakia 3-0 (J Halard bt H Sukova 7-6 6-4; N Tauziat bt J Novotna 6-1 0-6 6-3; I Demongeot and P Paradis-Mangon bt A Strnadova and R Zrubakova 6-4 3-6 6-3). (Today's semi-final draw: France v Spain; Argentina v Australia).

WASHINGTON MEN'S TOURNAMENT Third round: A Krickstein (US) bt A Agassi (US) 4-6 6-3 6-4; P Korda (Cz Rep) bt J Hlasek (Swit) 7-6 7-6; S Matsuoka (Japan) bt R Weiss (US) 6-4 6-4; T Martin (US) bt P McEnroe (US) 6-3 6-7 6-2; A Mansdorf (Isr) bt S Stolle (Aus) 6-4 6-2; R Reneberg (US) bt M Knowles (US) 6-3 6-2; G Pozzi (It) bt D Nainkin (SA) 7-6 6-4; M Washington (US) bt J Tarango (US) 6-3 6-1. Quarter-final: A Mansdorf (Isr) bt P Korda (Cz Rep) 6-3 6-3.

MERCEDES MEN'S OPEN (Stuttgart) Quarter- finals: M Gustafsson (Swe) bt M Ondruska (SA) 6-3 6-2; M Gollner (Ger) bt K Novacek (Cz Rep) 6-3 6-2; M Stich (Ger) bt A Chesnokov (Rus) 6-2 7-5; A Medvedev (Ukr) bt J Sanchez (Sp) 7-5 4-6 7-6.

PATHMARK WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT (Mahwah, NJ) Second round: L Raymond (US) bt M Paz (Arg) 7-6 6-3; M Pierce (Fr) bt S McCarthy (US) 6-0 6-0. Quarter-finals: M J Fernandez (US) bt P O'Reilly (US) 6-1 6-1; Pierce bt C Benjamin (US) 6-4 6-0; Raymond (US) bt M Maleeva- Fragniere (Swit) 6-2 6-4.