Wimbledon Roundup : Few Frowns From Four Favorites

While Henri Leconte and Molly Van Nostrand were cooling the Wimbledon dreams of Ivan Lendl and Manuela Maleeva, respectively, the tournament’s four top-seeded players advanced with little difficulty on a warm, sunny Tuesday at the All England Club.

Defending champion John McEnroe and second-seeded Jimmy Connors easily moved on to the men’s quarterfinals, while Chris Evert Lloyd and Martina Navratilova, the co-top-seeded players in women’s singles, also reached the round of eight.

Others reaching the men’s quarterfinals were No. 5 Anders Jarryd of Sweden, No. 8 Kevin Curren of the United States, Boris Becker of West Germany, Heinz Gunthardt of Switzerland and Chile’s Ricardo Acuna, a qualifier.

Joining Navratilova, Lloyd and Van Nostrand in the women’s quarterfinals were seventh-seeded Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia and four other Americans: No. 5 Pam Shriver, No. 8 Zina Garrison, No. 16 Kathy Rinaldi and unseeded Barbara Potter.

McEnroe ousted West Germany’s Andreas Maurer, 6-0, 6-4, 6-2; Curren defeated No. 14 Stefan Edberg of Sweden, 7-6, 6-3, 7-6; Connors eliminated fellow American Sammy Giammalva, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3; Acuna downed American Robert Seguso, another qualifier, 6-4, 7-6, 6-2; Jarryd overwhelmed South Africa’s Danie Visser, 6-1, 6-4, 6-1, and Gunthardt ousted India’s Vijay Amritraj, 6-4, 6-4, 6-1.

Among the women, it was Lloyd over fellow American Anne Smith, 6-0, 6-4; Potter over Britain’s Jo Durie, 7-6, 6-7, 6-1; Rinaldi over Australia’s Elizabeth Smylie, 6-2, 6-1; Sukova over France’s Pascale Paradis, 6-4, 7-6; Garrison over Catherine Tanvier of France, 6-1, 6-3; Shriver over No. 11 Steffi Graf of West Germany, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, and Navratilova over South Africa’s Rene Uys, 6-2, 6-2.

In today’s men’s quarterfinals, it will be McEnroe against Curren, Connors against Acuna, Jarryd against Gunthardt, and Becker against Leconte.

The women’s quarterfinals will send Lloyd against Potter, Rinaldi against Sukova, Garrison against Van Nostrand, and Shriver against her doubles partner, Navratilova.

McEnroe was magnificent in the opening set against Maurer, zipping through it in 19 minutes.

“I felt I had the best start since the tournament (began), but thought he (Maurer) was nervous,” McEnroe said. “I’m just glad the weather is good and you know you are going to be playing. That makes a big difference.

“I feel I’m playing better every day. Hopefully it’s the right time, since I am going to need to play better.”

Connors had more problems with Court No. 2 than he did with Giammalva.

“I feel I’m playing good enough to get through. But if I want to win the tournament, I will have to play better, and I feel that is possible,” said Connors, who won this tournament in 1974 and 1982.