Tennis Roundup : Vilas Opens Bid for 4th D.C. Title

Argentina’s Guillermo Vilas, opening his bid for an unprecedented fourth Washington championship, defeated Frenchman Thierry Tulasne, 6-1, 6-3, Tuesday night in the $200,000 D.C. National Bank tournament.

Vilas, has reached the final in Washington five times, taking the championship in 1977, ’79 and ’81.

Still trying to come back following a year’s suspension in 1983 because he accepted guarantees for appearing in tournaments, Vilas reached the semifinal round of a tournament for only the third time in 18 months last week at the U.S. Pro Championships in Brookline, Mass.

Against Tulasne, however, he flashed the steady baseline game that kept him ranked among the world top 10 players for the nine years before his suspension.

In a second match Tuesday night, 15th-seeded Mark Dickson, playing in his first tournament in nearly two months, was an impressive, 6-1, 6-3, winner over Mel Purcell.

Earlier, Sweden’s Stefan Erikksson, a former All-American at the University of Minnesota, surprised Chile’s Hans Gildemeister, 6-2, 6-1, to advance to the second round, where he will meet top-seeded Jimmy Connors today.

Erikksson, who is completing his first year as a professional, gained the tournament’s main draw by defeating three opponents last weekend in the qualifying round.

Hu Na, the Chinese player who defected to the United States three years ago, defeated Canadian Marianne Groat, 6-0, 6-0, in the only match played in the $150,000 Virginia Slims tournament at Newport, R.I.

After a three-hour rain delay, tournament officials suspended play.

Emilio Sanchez of Spain scored the biggest win of his career by defeating second-seeded Anders Jarryd of Sweden, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, in the first round of the Swedish Open at Baastad.

Jarryd, ranked No. 5 in the world and a semifinalist at Wimbledon two weeks ago, could find no excuse for his surprising defeat.

“He was simply too good for me,” Jarryd said.

The 20-year-old Sanchez, ranked 159th in the world, played steadily from the baseline and went through the match without a double fault.

Jarryd had been a runner-up in the Baastad tournament three times (1981, 1983, 1984).

Top-seeded Mats Wilander, fresh from his Grand Prix victory at Boston last Monday, plays fellow Swede Hans Simonsson today in his first match.

The Strings got off to a fast start in their TeamTennis match with the San Antonio Racquets Tuesday night at the Forum, but the Racquets were faster at the end and scored a 24-20 victory.

The women’s doubles team of Anne White and Pam Teeguarden blanked San Antonio’s Anne Smith and Kim Shaefer, 6-0, and when White had a 3-0 lead in women’s singles, the margin was nine.

However, that was the last good news for the Strings as Schaefer rallied to beat White, 6-5. San Antonio then swept the mixed doubles, men’s singles and doubles to drop Los Angeles’ record to 1-3. The Racquets are now 2-3.