Tennis Roundup : Annacone, Jarryd, Wilander Advance in the WCT Finals

Paul Annacone’s powerful serve and dinky dropshots produced a 6-7, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 victory over Miloslav Mecir of Yugoslavia in the quarterfinals of the $500,000 WCT Finals Wednesday night at Dallas.

In other matches, Anders Jarryd was leading, 6-3, 4-0, when Thierry Tulasne of France was forced to withdraw with tendinitis in his right shoulder, and top-seeded Mats Wilander of Sweden defeated Johan Kriek, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Suspended tennis star Jimmy Connors will not be invited to this year’s 100th Beckenham grass court tournament in London after all, organizers said.

Connors’ suspension covers the Beckenham dates (June 2-8), but organizers believed they could invite him because their tourney is not part of the Grand Prix tour. But they received pressure from the International Tennis Federation and Britian’s Lawn Tennis Assn., which contributes $36,750 to the tourney each year.

Third-seeded Steffi Graf of West Germany turned back Mercedes Paz, 6-4, 6-4, in the first round of the Family Circle Cup at Hilton Head Island, S.C.

In other first-round action, Helen Kelesi surprised Carling Bassett, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, in a battle of Canadians; fourth-seeded Claudia Kohde-Kilsch defeated Katerina Maleeva of Bulgaria, 6-4, 7-6; fifth-seeded Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia stopped Kathleen Horvath, 6-1, 6-3, and seventh-seeded Zina Garrison eliminated Laura Gildemeister, 6-4, 6-3.