Tennis Roundup : Lendl, Jarryd Win Matches in Challenge Event

Top-seeded Ivan Lendl defeated Andres Gomez, 7-6, 6-1, and Sweden’s Anders Jarryd knocked off Davis Cup teammate Stefan Edberg, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, Tuesday in opening-round matches of the $500,000 AT&T; Challenge tournament at Atlanta.

It was Lendl’s first match since he accumulated more than $7,500 in fines at the Australian Open in December. His suspension ended last week.

Lendl edged past the No. 8-seeded Gomez in the first set, winning the tiebreaker by a 7-1 score before overpowering the Ecuadorean in the second set.

The Jarryd-Edberg match was even until Jarryd’s 7-4 victory in the third set tiebreaker.

In the first two matches of the opening round Monday, No. 2 John McEnroe whipped Kevin Curren, 7-6, 6-1, and No. 4 Jimmy Connors edged Yannick Noah, 6-4, 7-6.

Noah will meet Gomez and Jarryd faces McEnroe today in the afternoon matches. Lendl then takes on Connors and Edberg plays Curren tonight.

The tournament brings together eight of the world’s top players in a round-robin event. McEnroe won the inaugural tourney last year at Las Vegas. He heads one four-man group while Lendl leads the other.

Pam Shriver and West Germany’s Claudia Kohde-Kilsch each won straight-set victories to advance to the second round of the $150,000 Virginia Slims of Washington, D.C., tournament.

Shriver, the No. 2-seeded player, topped West Germany’s Sylvia Hanika, 6-1, 6-2, while Kohde-Kilsch, seeded third, eliminated 16-year-old Katerina Maleeva of Bulgaria, 6-3, 6-1.

Earlier, fourth-seeded Manuela Maleeva, Katerina’s older sister, defeated Kate Gompert, 6-3, 6-0.

In the only other match involving a seeded player, Czechoslovakia’s Helena Sukova, seeded sixth, cruised past Camille Benjamin, 6-2, 6-0.