La Quinta Tennis : Sundstrom, Nystrom Upset, but Connors Passes His Eye Test

Be it trend, aberration or some sort of low-level conspiracy, the upset epidemic continued to sweep through the $375,000 Pilot Pen tennis tournament Wednesday, claiming two of Sweden’s finest and leaving Jimmy Connors standing--but on fairly wobbly legs.

Henrik Sundstrom and Joakim Nystrom, seeded second and fifth, respectively, were cashiered quickly by a couple of young Americans making a delayed atonement for last December’s Davis Cup debacle in Sweden.

Ben Testerman, 23, blew past Sundstrom, 7-5, 6-3, embarrassing Sundstrom so thoroughly that the Swede skipped his postmatch press conference, hurdling fences and chairs en route to his getaway from the stadium court.

Soon afterward, Nystrom followed his countryman into the tank, drowning in a sea of bullet serves delivered by the racket of 22-year-old David Pate, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Something was most certainly in the air when onto the stadium court strode Connors, putting his No. 1 seeding and the tournament’s only real marquee attraction on the line. Promoters prayed that Connors’ Converses would locate no stray banana peel.

For a while, Connors slid around, squandering two match points and eventually losing a second-set tiebreaker to an opponent with an eye-chart line for a last name, Slobodan Zivojinovic. But, just in the nick of time, Connors righted himself and bore down on the mysterious Mr. Z, pulling out a 6-2, 6-7, 6-3 victory.

And tournament director Charlie Pasarell breathed a bit easier, although, for the record, he said he can’t afford to worry about such things.

“It’s important that Jimmy wins, for the tournament,” Pasarell said, “but I try not to worry about things I can’t control. . . .

“As a promoter, all you can do is get the best field you can, put them all in the same arena and let them battle to see who comes out on top. No one can control that.”

So far in this battle, the Davids have been bullying the Goliaths. After two rounds of play at the La Quinta Hotel Tennis Club, half of the tournament’s 16 seeded players have already checked out--including three of the top five.

And the status of No. 6, Tomas Smid, remains in jeopardy. Smid was locked in a three-set struggle with Todd Nelson before late-afternoon rains forced the postponement of the match until today. Smid was leading at the point of interruption, 6-1, 6-7, 4-2.

Strange things are happening, but the consensus is that the field at La Quinta is just playing out a hand that was first dealt at the beginning of the year. So far in 1985, Miloslav Mecir reached the final at Philadelphia, Stefan Edberg placed second at Memphis and Tim Mayotte beat Scott Davis for the title at Delray Beach.

“There are a lot of good tennis players out there,” Pate said, “and I think now, they’re beginning to find out they can beat the top players. Anybody in the Top 10 can be beaten now, maybe with the exception of McEnroe. Lendl and Connors have been losing a couple of matches.”

So far, the cement courts at La Quinta have made for a good week for the power players. Testerman’s attacking game and Pate’s cannon of a serve ambushed the Swedes, and Zivojinovic, also possessing a potent serve, was able to make Connors uncomfortable for a spell.

Testerman completely frustrated Sundstrom, forcing the stoic baseliner to scramble and sprint and spray errors. By the latter part of the second set, Sundstrom seemed resigned to his fate, hitting out and playing with apparent disinterest.

“He fought hard until the end of the first set,” Testerman said. “Sundstrom is definitely a front-runner. We all saw that when he beat McEnroe in Davis Cup.

“I knew from the very start of the match what I had to do. I had to get in front of him.”

Testerman did--and he stayed there. Sundstrom saved his best moves for after the match, when he made his way out of the stadium as if the bleachers were on fire.

Nystrom made it more interesting in his match against Pate, winning the first set and opening a 4-3 lead in the third. But Pate just kept pounding his serve, and in time Nystrom crumbled.

What sustained Pate was the memory of his final match at La Quinta last year, when he fell just short of upsetting Jimmy Arias in the round of 16.

“I was thinking about that match,” Pate said. “Just like against Arias, I was serving for the match. I let him (Nystrom) catch up at 30-30, but then I put it away.

“I’m proud of that. I had Arias twice like that last year and let him get away. I like to say it was bad luck, but I guess I get a little nervous in that situation.”

Connors was able to avoid becoming another upset statistic, although he found it easier to pronounce Zivojinovic than to beat him.

Besides having to deal with Zivojinovic’s bothersome serve, Connors continued to have racket problems. Unable to find a model with the weight and balance he wants, Connors played Wednesday’s match with three strips of lead tape attached to the head of the racket.

“The racket is being remodeled for me, but it’s still not right,” Connors said. “It’s been difficult for me. I just have to work through it.”

Connors will get at least one more chance this week to correct the situation, which is something more than Sundstrom and Nystrom can say.