John Lloyd Posts 6-2, 6-3 Upset of Pat Cash in Houston

John Lloyd upset fourth-seeded Pat Cash of Australia, 6-2, 6-3, Wednesday in the second round of the $200,000 River Oaks Tournament in hot and humid weather at Houston.

Eighth-seeded Brad Gilbert became the second upset victim of the tournament, losing to Ramesh Krishnan of India, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

In other matches, third-seeded Kevin Curren of South Africa beat back a challenge by Sandy Mayer, 7-6, 6-4, and unseeded Paul McNamee of Australia surprised fourth-seeded Joakim Nystrom of Sweden, 6-1, 6-4.

“It was like an oven out there,” Lloyd said. “I think conditioning will decide a lot of matches this week. But I think this match was too short to be conditioning. He just had trouble adjusting to the clay courts.”

Lloyd, ranked 47th in the world, broke Cash, ranked ninth, in the first game of the match with a backhand volley winner and again in the seventh game on Cash’s forehand net error while coasting through the first set.

Second-seeded Hana Mandliko va was penalized a point and nearly a game but defeated Vicki Nelson, 7-6, 6-2, in the Women’s Tennis Assn. Championships at Amelia Island, Fla.

In other matches, top-seeded Chris Evert Lloyd defeated Petra Jauch, 6-0, 6-2; fourth-seeded Zina Garrison overcame Angeliki Kanellopolou, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6; fourth-seeded Carling Bassett fought off Penny Barg, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; and third-seeded Claudia Kohde-Kilsch escaped with a 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 victory over unseeded Tine Scheuer-Larsen.

Mandlikova was hit with a warning for abusive language during the first set and penalized a point for abuse of the ball when she slammed it against the backdrop after Nelson evened the set at 5-5.

Minutes after the penalty announcement, Mandlikova hit a ball into the stands but was not penalized.