Noah Defeats Wilkison in Boca Raton Tennis

Yannick Noah of France overpowered Tim Wilkison, and Steffi Graf, Manuela Maleeva, Zina Garrison and Kathy Rinaldi all won in women’s third-round matches Friday at the $1.8-million Lipton International Players Championship tennis tournament.

Noah, a strong serve-and-volley player who excels on clay courts and is seeded sixth, turned in a consistent performance on the hard courts at Boca West and eliminated Wilkison, 6-2, 6-4.

The victory sent the Frenchman into the fourth round against Sweden’s Jan Gunnarsson, who beat Michael Schapers, 6-2, 6-3.

West Germany’s Graf, seeded second in the women’s bracket, advanced with a 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 victory over England’s Sara Gomer. Maleeva, No. 4, from Bulgaria, eased past Raffaella Regii of Italy, 7-5, 6-1, and Zina Garrison, No. 6, beat South Africa’s Jennifer Mundel, 6-4, 6-3.

No. 9-seeded Rinaldi, meanwhile, ended a five-match losing streak to Bettina Bunge, beating the West German for the first time, 6-4, 6-4.

“I think she is the only player I’d played that many times and never beat,” Rinaldi said. “She has a lot of talent and came up with some incredible shots. “In this match I didn’t let up. I hung in there and kept fighting until the end.”