Tennis Roundup : Mayotte Stops Cash Comeback Bid

Third-seeded Brad Gilbert and seventh-seeded Tim Mayotte won their opening-round matches Tuesday in a $279,000 WCT tournament at Atlanta.

Gilbert wore down Ricardo Acuna of Chile, 6-4, 6-3, and Mayotte stopped Australia’s Pat Cash by the same score.

Top-seeded Stefan Edberg and second-seeded Boris Becker play their first-round matches today.

Cash, a former top 10 player who reached the semifinals of both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 1984, is trying to make a comeback from a back injury that sidelined him last summer.

Playing in only his second singles tournament since Wimbledon, he is currently ranked 158th in the world.

In afternoon matches, Tom Gullikson upset eighth-seeded Matt Anger, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3, and Jonathan Canter rallied for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory over Bud Schultz.

At Marco Island, Fla., Janine Thompson of Australia upset third-seeded Manuela Maleeva of Bulgaria, 6-2, 1-6, 6-2, in the second round of the $150,000 Chrysler-Plymouth Tournament of Champions.

Maleeva, ranked eighth in the world, has now lost her first match in three straight tournaments.

Thompson earned a spot in this champions-only tournament by winning at the Virginia Slims of Pennsylvaia in early March, but she said the victory over Maleeva was more of an accomplishment.

“This was the win of my life,” the 18-year-old Australian said.

Thompson, ranked 65th in the world, said she felt she could beat Maleeva because she had put up a good fight in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 loss to the Bulgarian during the Virginia Slims of Florida in January.

“I thought I could’ve won that match, so I came in here thinking that I could beat her,” Thompson said.

Top-seeded Chris Evert Lloyd plays Maria Lindstrom of Sweden tonight in her first match in the tournament.

In the opening round of a $142,000 Grand Prix tournament at Cologne, West Germany, second-seeded Slobodan Zivojinovic of Yugoslavia eliminated Thomas Muster of Austria, 6-3, 6-2.