BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS : ROSSET BEATS HOME-COURT EDGE

In one of the more emotionally nationalistic tennis matches played in a while, Marc Rosset of Switzerland beat Emilio Sanchez of Spain on Monday night, at a jammed-packed center court at the Olympic tennis complex.

The theory of many here has been, from the start, that this facility and its surface have been specially prepared so that Sanchez and his sister, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, would have the best chance possible of winning in their hometown.

So when Sanchez took the court against Rosset, a tall, awkward, big-serving youngster, the cards were clearly stacked. Even the most pro-Sanchez observers acknowledged that Sanchez seemed to be hitting lines that weren’t really there and that the court was three inches narrower and shorter on whatever side Rosset was on.

Finally, amid all the flag-waving and bleacher-stomping, Rosset and Sanchez got to a tiebreaker for the fourth set, and for Rosset, the match. And each point was like an international incident. Especially the one at 8-8.

Sanchez hit an approach backhand shot down the line, and Rosset hit a big forehand to Sanchez’s backhand side. The net-charging Sanchez lunged, just tapped the ball back over the net and, in the process, lost his racket, which skidded away. Rosset dashed in and hit a gentle forehand back over the net, knowing full well that Sanchez’s racket rested 10 feet away.

But in the emotion of the moment, Sanchez poked a forehand volley back across the net with the palm of his right hand, then glared at Rosset, just a few feet away.

And Rosset, by now up to his eyeballs in bad calls, Spanish flags and hooting crowds, shook his fist at Sanchez and yelled words that probably wouldn’t be printed in your morning newspaper.

Rosset’s point on that play made it 9-8. He won the tiebreaker, 11-9, and the match. When it was over, the two shook hands at the net, but it was quick and stiff and not the greeting of two guys who might have dinner together soon.

This a daily roundup of Olympic-related items from reporters in Barcelona from the Los Angeles Times, Newsday and Baltimore Sun, all Times-Mirror newspapers.