Wimbledon Roundup : Sun Doesn’t Shine on Sabatini and Hu Na

After crowd favorites Gabriela Sabatini and Hu Na lost their third-round matches at Wimbledon Saturday, the rains came.

Was it because they had added a touch of sunshine to the tournament with their play?

Sabatini, the 15-year-old from Argentina who had dazzled the crowd in her first Wimbledon appearance, lost to France’s Catherine Tanvier, 6-7, 6-4, 6-1.

Sabatini was seeded 15th.

Hu, the first native of China to play in the women’s singles at Wimbledon, was eliminated by South Africa’s Rene Uys, 6-2, 4-6, 6-0.

Hu had battled through the qualifying rounds and had upset Britain’s Annabel Croft en route to the third round. But it was there that the dream ended.

And it was about then that the bright sunshine that had broken through the heavy overcast, disappeared, replaced by the showers that had plagued the tournament all week.

In addition to Sabatini, six other seeded players fell Saturday--the biggest casualty being No. 6-seeded Pat Cash of Australia.

And even such favorites as Martina Navratilova, Ivan Lendl, Jimmy Connors and Hana Mandlikova had their problems.

Navratilova was involved in a tiebreaker before beating Bettina Bunge, 7-6, 6-3. Lendl struggled to a 6-3, 1-6, 6-2, 6-7, 6-4 victory over Mike Leach, a player ranked 30 places below him. Connors was taken to four sets by India’s Ramesh Krishnan before winning, 7-5, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, while Mandlikova dropped the first set before eliminating Australia’s Dianne Balestrat, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.

But, in the shortest match of the day, Ricardo Acuna of Chile beat the 20-year-old Cash, a semifinalist at Wimbledon last year, 7-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-7, 6-4.

The match had been halted by rain and darkness Friday night with Acuna leading 5-3 in the final set, and Saturday’s action lasted only 7 minutes, 45 seconds.

Although Cash has been suffering from back trouble, he did not use the injury as an excuse.

“It’s the worst fall I have had in my life, but it’s not the end of the world,” he said.

Also eliminated were No. 9 Johan Kriek and No. 15 Tomas Smid of Czechoslovakia.

Seeded players to lose in women’s singles, were No. 6 Claudia Kohde-Kilsch of West Germany, No. 9 Bonnie Gadusek and No. 10 Kathy Jordan.

Larissa Savchenko of the Soviet Union surprised Jordan, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.

“I knew I had to play a strong serve-and-volley game,” said Savchenko, who is ranked 80th in the world. “I knew Jordan was a good player and I would have to take my chances.

“I don’t think Kathy played her best today. She has a very good return, low and strong, but not today.”

Pam Shriver, seeded No. 5 among the women, was a winner Saturday, as were No. 4 Manuela Maleeva of Bulgaria, No. 7 Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia, No. 8 Zina Garrison, No. 14 Wendy Turnbull of Australia and No. 16 Kathy Rinaldi.

Andreas Maurer of West Germany ousted Kriek, 6-1, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3; Sammy Giammalva stopped Smid, 6-3, 6-1, 6-2; Britain’s Jo Durie surprised Kohde-Kilsch, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, and Anne Smith upset Gadusek, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Shriver eliminated Britain’s Anne Hobbs, 6-3, 6-2, Maleeva beat Terry Holladay, 6-7, 6-1, 6-4, Sukova defeated Wendy White, 6-1, 6-4, and Garrison routed Marcella Mesker, 6-3, 6-1.

Turnbull defeated fellow-Australian Elizabeth Minter, 7-5, 7-5, and Rinaldi beat Rosalyn Fairbank of South Africa, 7-5, 6-4.

Winners among the men were No. 5 Anders Jarryd of Sweden, No. 8 Kevin Curren and No. 16 Tim Mayotte.

Jarryd completed a 5-7, 7-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory over Scott Davis, while Curren disposed of New Zealand’s David Mustard, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5, and Mayotte won 11 consecutive games to beat Australia’s Paul McNamee, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-0.

Navratilova had several anxious moments before reaching the round of 16. In fact, Bunge thought she had won the first point of the first-set tiebreaker with a backhand smash, but the umpire called a let because of a dubious line decision in the middle of the rally.

When the point was replayed, Navratilova won it and Bunge never recovered.

Lendl reached the third round only after his match had been suspended Friday night by rain and stopped twice Saturday by showers.

Although he served 25 aces, he didn’t look happy and double-faulted 22 times.