Wimbledon : It Was Day of Sunshine and Upsets

Top-seeded John McEnroe, attempting to become the first American ever to win three consecutive men’s singles titles at Wimbledon, quietly made his way into the fourth round Monday as sunshine and warm weather finally arrived in London after a week of chilling rain.

Second-seeded Ivan Lendl also advanced, but seventh-seeded Joakim Nystrom of Sweden and No. 11 Yannick Noah of France both lost, Nystrom to 17-year-old West German Boris Becker in a stirring five-set match.

The story was much the same among the women. Chris Evert Lloyd, seeded No. 1 with Martina Navratilova, won easily, but two other seeded players fell in women’s singles.

Australia’s Elizabeth Smylie shocked third-seeded Hana Mandlikova of Czechoslovakia, 6-1, 7-6, and Pascale Paradis of France upset No. 14 Wendy Turnbull of Australia, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1. That left only two seeded players in the same half of the draw with Lloyd, who beat Australian’s Jenny Byrne, 6-2, 6-1.

Only seven seeded players remain in the men’s draw.

McEnroe got by qualifier Christo Steyn of South Africa, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4, while Lendl finally found his game in the final two sets as he stopped Shlomo Glickstein of Israel, 7-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Becker, given a good chance of winning the singles title, ousted Nystrom, 3-6, 7-6, 6-1, 4-6, 9-7, and veteran Vijay Amritraj of India, in his 14th Wimbledon, eliminated Noah, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3, 7-6.

Also advancing into the fourth round were fifth-seeded Anders Jarryd and No. 14 Stefan Edberg of Sweden, qualifier Ricardo Acuna of Chile, Danie Visser of South Africa, Switzerland’s Heinz Gunthardt, Henri Leconte of France and two Americans, Sammy Giammalva and Robert Seguso.

Women moving on were fifth-seeded Pam Shriver of the United States, who ended the hopes of veteran Virginia Wade of Britain, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2; No. 4 Manuela Maleeva of Bulgaria, No. 11 Steffi Graf of West Germany, Britain’s Jo Durie and four Americans, No. 16 Kathy Rinaldi, Anne Smith, Barbara Potter and qualifier Molly Van Nostrand.

McEnroe’s next opponent is another qualifier, 27-year-old Andreas Maurer of West Germany. The other two qualifiers left, Seguso and Acuna, are both in McEnroe’s half of the draw and clash in the next round.

Other fourth-round pairings include Edberg against No. 8 Kevin Curren; No. 3 Jimmy Connors against Giammalva; Jarryd against Visser; Amritraj against Gunthardt; Becker against No. 16 Tim Mayotte, and Lendl against Leconte.

McEnroe, making a rare appearance on an outside court, seemed disinterested in his one-hour, 45-minute match and rarely showed the genius that has taken him to four consecutive Wimbledon finals and the last two titles.

“I don’t think I should have had to play there,” McEnroe said of Court No. 2, dubbed “the graveyard of champions.”

“That’s part of being the defending champion. You should have to be beaten on one of the two show courts, but what can I do about it when a decision has been made.”

But McEnroe, whose on-court antics have overshadowed his brilliant play here in the past, followed his remarks by conceding:

“With the backlog of matches they have, it might be something they had to do. I don’t think they were trying to be unreasonable to me.”

The first set was easy enough for McEnroe, but he began to struggle in the second.

He broke Steyn in the second game and grabbed a 4-2 lead before the South African won three straight games, breaking back in the eighth game. After breaking service to lead, 6-5, McEnroe put a bandage on his right knee, though his mobility did not seem to be affected as he served out the set.

In the third set, McEnroe broke Steyn’s serve in the fifth game and quickly ran out the victory.