Tennis Roundup : McEnroe Almost Beaten in Second Round by Lloyd

John McEnroe, talking to himself throughout the match, barely averted an upset Thursday night when he outlasted John Lloyd, 6-1, 6-7, 7-6, in the $277,000 Transamerica Open at San Francisco.

McEnroe defeated the Briton in the second-round match, winning the deciding third-set tiebreaker, 8-6.

Lloyd, ranked 72nd in the world, mixed his serves well and frequently aced the top-seeded McEnroe.

In the third set, Lloyd was down, 4-3, when he served in a game that produced five deuce points and finally turned in his favor as McEnroe was penalized a point for pounding his racket.

McEnroe, however, did not turn his anger on officials. Instead, he talked fiercely to himself the rest of the way. At 5-5, he held serve by hitting two aces. Lloyd also held serve in the 12th game, surviving two match points.

Lloyd then fell behind, 5-1, in the tiebreaker but again rallied to make it 6-6 before hitting a forehand over the baseline. McEnroe won the match with a forehand.

Advancing with McEnroe to the quarterfinals were Paul Annacone, Johan Kriek and Tim Mayotte.

Annacone, a winner in Los Angeles last week, scored a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 victory over Matt Anger, who had upset second-seeded Kevin Curren in the previous round.

Kriek routed former NCAA champion Greg Holmes, 6-1, 6-2, while Mayotte had the easiest time of all. He won by default when Mike Leach returned home to Ann Arbor, Mich., where his wife was having a child.

At New Orleans, Chris Evert Lloyd and Pam Shriver advanced to the third round of a $150,000 Virginia Slims tournament.

Lloyd, seeded No. 1, defeated Janine Thompson, 6-1, 6-4. Shriver, seeded No. 2, routed Laura Gildemeister, 6-0, 6-1.

Shriver next faces Wendy Turnbull of Australia, but she is looking toward a possible match against Lloyd in the final.

“I’d love to play her,” Shriver said.

Said Lloyd: “Well, she’s never beaten me, so that’s probably why. Everybody wants a crack at me.”

Earlier, Candy Reynolds upset No. 8-seeded Kate Gompert, 6-3, 6-2.

At Barcelona, Spain, top-seeded Mats Wilander of Sweden defeated Diego Perez of Uruguay, 6-3, 6-4, in the third round of the $275,000 Conde de Godo tournament.