Wimbledon Roundup : It’s an Upsetting Day for Aaron Krickstein, Too

Tenth-seeded Aaron Krickstein was also knocked out of the Wimbledon championships Wednesday, along with Sweden’s fourth-seeded Mats Wilander.

Krickstein was ousted by fellow American Bud Schultz, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4, but his defeat was not nearly so stunning as Wilander’s 6-2, 5-7, 7-5, 6-0 loss to Yugoslavia’s Slobodan Zivojinovic.

Schultz, who lives in Meriden, Conn., broke Krickstein’s service only three times in the match, and he lost his own serve twice. Yet it was enough.

He had one service break in both the first and fourth sets, and one in the second set, which Krickstein won. But Schultz took the third-set tiebreaker, 7-2, to advance to the second round.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Connors, seeking a third Wimbledon title in the twilight of a long career, battled past Sweden’s Stefan Simonsson, 6-1, 6-3, 6-4.

The 32-year-old Connors ran off a string of seven straight games to close out the first set and take a 3-0 lead in the second. Although he lost his serve in the second game of the third set, he quickly broke back, then broke again in the seventh game for the deciding break, closing out the match in the 10th game, winning on the second match point with an overhead smash.

“The weather is a problem here,” Connors said after his victory. “If you had to play two or three days in a row, it would be tough.”

Three seeded players from Sweden won their matches--No. 5 Anders Jarryd, No. 7 Joakim Nystrom and No. 14 Stefan Edberg. It was the first time in five years that Jarryd has survived the first round at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

This time, although he lost the first two sets, he outlasted Italy’s Claudio Panatta, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. Nystrom defeated Britain’s Jason Goodall, 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, and Edberg beat Australia’s Peter Doohan, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.

For the third straight day, rain interrupted play, but on this day it was only briefly.

Barbara Potter, whose serve-and-volley game is perfectly suited for grass, posted a mild upset in women’s singles by beating 12th-seeded Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden, 6-0, 7-5.

“I did my floundering on my first appearance in the French Open,” Potter said, referring to her first-round loss on the slow, red clay court. “I’m just happy to be back on the green stuff.”

It was the left-hander’s second straight victory over Lindqvist, a baseliner who’s more at home on clay. Potter stopped the Swede last week at Eastbourne, also on grass.

“On grass it’s not an upset,” Potter admitted. “On clay, it would be.”

West Germany’s 17-year-old Boris Becker, considered a possible future champion here, had his match against Hank Pfister halted by darkness. Becker led, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 2-2.

Another match that was halted by darkness was a first-round battle between Vitas Gerulaitis and Peter Fleming. It had begun on Tuesday but was stopped then by rain. The match is scheduled again today.

Other seeded players advancing into the second round were No. 9 Johan Kriek, who beat Paraguay’s Victor Pecci, 6-4, 6-0, 4-6, 7-5; No. 11 Yannick Noah of France, who outlasted Brad Gilbert, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3, No. 13 Eliot Teltscher, who defeated Italy’s Gianni Ocleppo, 5-7, 7-6, 7-6, 6-0; No. 16 Tim Mayotte, who eliminated Australia’s Trevor Allan, 7-5, 6-4, 6-2, and No. 8 Zina Garrison, a 6-2, 6-1 winner over South Africa’s Elna Reinach.

Among others posting victories on the busiest day this tournament has seen thus far were Chris Lewis of New Zealand, a finalist here two years ago who defeated Britain’s Stephen Shaw, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3, and France’s Pascale Paradis, who beat Emiko Okagawa of Japan, 6-2, 6-1.