Tennis Roundup : Five Upsets Highlight Play in Ohio

Five seeded players were beaten in first-round matches Tuesday in the $375,000 Assn. of Tennis Professionals Championship at Mason, Ohio. But defending champion Mats Wilander wasn’t one of them.

The No. 1-seeded Wilander had an easy time beating Vince Van Patten, 6-0, 6-1.

“I expected it to be a little tougher,” Wilander said. “Today, I just stayed with the rallies and gave him a chance to make a mistake.”

Jimmy Brown pulled off the biggest upset of the day, knocking off No. 7-seeded Johan Kriek, 7-6, 6-4.

Also eliminated were No. 9 Martin Jaite of Argentina, No. 12 Henri Leconte of France, No. 15 Michael Leach and No. 16 Ramesh Krishnan of India.

Brad Drewett of Australia upset Jaite, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, while Vijay Amritraj of India defeated Leconte, 7-6, 6-4. Robert Green rallied to oust Leach, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, and Bud Schultz beat Krishnan, 6-3, 6-1.

“I never thought I would beat Kriek,” Brown said. “I just came here hoping to play some matches to get ready for the U.S. Open.

“To me, the tournament is a success after just one match.”

Among seeded players surviving the wave of upsets were No. 2 Anders Jarryd, No. 3 Yannick Noah, No. 5 Stefan Edberg and No. 6 Joakim Nystrom. All, including Wilander, are from Sweden, except Noah, who is from France.

Jarryd beat Mike DePalmer, 7-6, 6-4; Noah defeated Mike Bauer, 6-3, 6-3; Edberg ousted John Fitzgerald of Australia, 6-4, 6-3, and Nystrom beat Mel Purcell, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6.

In other matches, Ken Flach defeated Guy Forget of France, 6-4, 6-4; John Sadri beat Libor Pimek of Czechoslovakia, 7-6, 2-6, 6-1, and Pavel Slozil of Czechoslovakia eliminated Michael Robertson of South Africa, 6-4, 6-4.

Also, Ricardo Acuna of Chile beat Robert Seguso, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6; Bill Scanlon ousted Henri DeWet of South Africa, 7-5, 6-2, and Tim Wilkison defeated Matt Anger, 6-3, 6-3.

At Monticello, N.Y., Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia and four other seeded players moved into the second round of a $75,000 women’s tournament.

Sukova, seeded No. 1, defeated Australia’s Anne Minter, 7-5, 6-2.

No. 2-seeded Barbara Potter beat JoAnne Russell, 6-4, 6-3; No. 3 Sylvia Hanika of West Germany ousted Marianne Werdel, 6-2, 7-5; No. 4 Katerina Maleeva of Bulgaria topped Anne Hobbs of England, 6-4, 6-2, and No. 7 Debbie Spence downed Anna Ivan, 6-4, 6-2.

The day’s two closest matches were won by players who entered the main draw as qualifiers. South Africa’s Rene Uys edged Melissa Gurney, 7-6, 7-5, and Helen Kelesi of Canada beat Sara Gomer of England, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4.

John McEnroe, the No. 1-ranked player in the world, has entered the $315,000 Volvo tennis tournament of Los Angeles, Sept. 16-22. The event will be played at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on the UCLA campus.

McEnroe, who is now residing in Malibu, won the Los Angeles tournament in 1981.

Four-time Los Angeles winner Jimmy Connors will also participate.

At Jericho, N.Y., Scott Davis defeated Jimmy Arias, 7-5, 6-1, in the opening match of the $150,000 Challenge Cup.

“This is the best I’ve served in a long time,” said Davis, who held Arias to nine points in 12 service games. “Arias beat me twice on clay, but this hard court is my best surface and I’m looking forward to more matches this week in preparation for the U.S. Open next week.”

In another match, Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia beat Brad Gilbert, 6-4, 6-1.