French Open : Noah Again Thrills Crowd in Paris

Returning to the scene of his greatest triumph, Yannick Noah again thrilled the crowd at Roland Garros Stadium Tuesday as he led a number of favorites to victory in the French Open tennis championships.

It was on the slow, red clay courts here two years ago that Noah became the first Frenchman in 37 years to win the men’s singles title. And with the capacity crowd cheering him on, Noah came from behind to defeat Libor Pimek of Czechoslovakia, 6-7, 6-1, 7-5, 6-4.

Posting even easier victories were John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl and Jimmy Connors, the top three seeded players in the men’s singles, and Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert Lloyd, seeded first and second, respectively, in the women’s field.

McEnroe, who lost to Lendl in the final here last year, ousted Ronald Agenor of Haiti, 6-0, 6-2, 7-5. Lendl stopped South African Eddie Edwards, 6-1, 6-3, 6-1; Connors battled his way past Wolfgang Popp of West Germany, 6-4, 6-1, 7-5, and Lloyd eliminated Australia’s Janine Thompson, 6-2, 6-1, in first-round matches. Navratilova was the first player to reach the third round when she defeated veteran Virginia Wade of Britain, 6-3, 6-0, to post her second victory in as many days.

But three seeded players were ousted on the second day of this two-week Grand Slam tournament.

Roberto Saad of Argentina, who had to fight his way through qualifying to reach the 128-man main draw, upset 16th-seeded Jimmy Arias of the United States, 6-1, 6-4, 7-5, while American Debbie Spence surprised the women’s ninth-seeded player, Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden, 7-5, 6-2, and Denmark’s Tine Scheuer-Larsen eliminated No. 12 Barbara Potter of Woodbury, Conn., 6-3, 6-1.

Noah outlasted Pimek in a three-hour, 20-minute battle.

“I am absolutely thrilled to be back playing this kind of tennis here at Roland Garros,” Noah said after his victory. “It is especially good because when I was out of action for six months, I wondered whether I was going to play tennis again.”

A combination of leg and stomach muscle injuries sidelined the 25-year-old Noah, who failed to win another singles title after the 1983 French Open until two weeks ago when he was victorious at the Italian Open.

“Today I had a great time on court,” said Noah, who showed no signs of the leg-muscle tear that affected him during the Italian tournament. “I was nervous, but I expected to be nervous. In fact, I was a little worried because I didn’t begin to feel the pressure until last night, which was a little late for me.”

Noah explained that he had decided not to defend the doubles title he won with countryman Henri Leconte last year because he wanted to avoid the added physical strain.

While Noah was “having a great time” on the packed center court, Arias, considered one of America’s top clay-court players, was being thoroughly beaten on an outside court.

” I didn’t feel as if I had been in a match,” Arias said. “Clay is one of my favorite surfaces. I’m really disappointed.”

Arias, 20, won the Italian Open on clay and the U.S. Clay Championships two years ago.

Following his straight-set victory, McEnroe expressed surprise that he will have to play another singles match on Wednesday. Normally, the top players get a day off between singles matches.

“I really don’t quite understand it, and I don’t know what to say,” McEnroe said. “But it certainly doesn’t help.”

Other seeded players advancing were three Swedes--No. 6 Anders Jarryd, No. 7 Joakim Nystrom and No. 14 Stefan Edberg.

In the women’s singles, other seeded players gaining the next round included No. 4 Manuela Maleeva of Bulgaria, No. 5 Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia, No. 7 Claudia Kohde-Kilsch of West Germany, No. 10 Bonnie Gadusek of the United States, No. 11 Steffi Graf of West Germany and No. 13 Kathy Rinaldi of the United States.