Tennis Roundup : Garrison Turns Back Hanika’s Bid for an Upset, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2

Seventh-seeded Zina Garrison brushed off a second-set loss to eliminate Sylvia Hanika of West Germany, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, Wednesday night and advance into the second round of the $500,000 Virginia Slims tennis championships at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

In later matches, defending champion Martina Navratilova, the No. 1 seeded player, took on Lisa Bonder and No. 6 Manuela Maleeva of Bulgaria played Pam Shriver.

The winner of this 16-player, week-long, season-ending event will pocket $125,000, the largest purse in women’s tennis. Sunday’s final will be best-of-five-sets, unique in the women’s game.

Ivan Lendl beat Jimmy Connors, 6-3, 6-2, in a Boston Garden exhibition match that may have influenced the site of this year’s 85th Davis Cup finals.

The match, one in a series of Peugeot Tennis Invitational exhibition matches, attracted 8,372 fans Tuesday night.

One spectator, there to check the size and enthusiasm of the crowd, was Brian Parrott, who is traveling the country checking possible sites for the Davis Cup competition should the United States make the finals.

Boston is one of eight cities bidding for the finals.