Tennis : Holmes Comes Up With the Shots to Beat Kriek

Unseeded Greg Holmes upset fourth-seeded Johan Kriek Thursday in the third round of the $315,000 U.S. National Indoor tennis championships at Memphis, Tenn.

Holmes, a 21-year-old from Danville, Calif., who is ranked 44th among the world’s tennis pros after little more than a year on the pro tour, had to come from behind for a 3-6, 7-6, 6-3 victory.

In other matches, second-seeded Eliot Teltscher downed Ramesh Krishnan of India, 6-3, 6-1, 11th-seeded Brad Gilbert defeated Jay Lapidus, 6-1, 6-4, and ninth-seeded Stefan Edberg of Sweden eliminated Marty Davis, 7-6, 6-0.

Kriek said Holmes turned the tide in the second set with two outstanding shots, a running backhand and a running forehand.

“He came up with two pretty good shots,” Kriek said. “I played them technically correct, but he got the ball by me.”

Holmes said he thought he was on the way out during the first set.

“In the first set, I wasn’t even coming close to breaking his serve,” he said.

In the second set, he said, “I hit probably the best backhand of my life. . . . He kept getting mad.”

Holmes said his play has been improving in the past few months.

“I’m playing more consistently,” he said.

Holmes reached the third round of the U.S. Pro Indoor at Philadelphia last week after eliminating third-seeded Mats Wilander of Sweden, 6-4, 6-3.

Peanut Louie, on a hot streak which carried her to one championship and one semifinal berth in the past two tournaments, upset fourth-seeded Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, in the third round of the BMW Championships at Marco Island, Fla.

Louie, seeded 14th in this tournament, won the Virginia Slims of Denver two weeks ago and reached the semifinals of the Virginia Slims of Florida last week.

Top-seeded Kathy Jordan claimed an easy 6-1, 6-2 victory over Catherine Tanvier of France, while second seed Bonnie Gadusek eliminated 14-year-old Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.

In other matches, Lisa Bonder, seeded fifth, ousted Katerina Maleeva of Bulgaria 6-1, 7-6, and Camille Benjamin topped former Wimbledon champion Virginia Wade of Great Britain, 6-2, 6-4.