Tennis Roundup : Connors Draws Seguso for Wimbledon Opener

If he recovers sufficiently to make an appearance in the All-England Championships at Wimbledon, Jimmy Connors will get to meet the man who helped send him to the sidelines.

In one of several coincidences that developed Tuesday at the Wimbledon draw, Connors was paired in the opening round against Robert Seguso. It was during a match with Seguso last Saturday at Queen’s Club that Connors pulled a groin muscle while stretching for a volley.

Connors, 33, had to retire from the final the next day against Tim Mayotte because of the injury, and it is questionable just how he will be when the 100th Wimbledon tournament starts Monday.

Connors, a two-time Wimbledon champion, was seeded third, but there is speculation he will be forced to withdraw.

Another twist developed in the draw when second-seeded Chris Evert Lloyd got the toughest assignment of any seeded woman when she was paired against 14-year-old Mary Joe Fernandez.

Not only did Fernandez surprise most observers by reaching the quarterfinals of the French Open two weeks ago, thereby boosting her ranking from No. 50 to 25, she gushed about the fact that Evert Lloyd long has been her hero.

“I’ve been watching her play since I was five,” Fernandez said. “I always liked the way she was so calm on court, such a great champion. It’s something I grew up with.”

Martina Navratilova, the defending champion and No. 1 seed, should have an easier opening round against 26-year-old Australian Amanda Tobin Dingwall.

Lendl, winner of 73 of his past 76 matches, and the U.S. and French Open championships will face Leonardo Lavelle, a strong 18-year-old Mexican Davis Cup player who has brought his ranking 62nd in the world.

Five seeded players were ousted in the Eastbourne women’s tournament, but top-seeded Martina Navratilova and No. 2 Hana Mandlikova easily moved into the third round.

Navratilova crushed Helen Kelesi of Canada, 6-1, 6-3, sweeping the last six games of the match, and Mandlikova beat Alycia Moulton, 6-1, 6-4.

Betsy Nagelsen surprised Barbara Potter, the No. 8 seed, 6-4, 7-5, while Nathalie Tauziat of France defeated No. 9 Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden, 6-2, 6-4; Puerto Rico’s Gigi Fernandez downed No. 13 Terry Phelps, 2-6, 6- 4, 6-4; Svetlana Parkhomenko of the Soviet Union surprised the 15th-seeded Mary Joe Fernandez, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3; and Britain’s Anne Hobbs eliminated No. 16 Bettina Bunge of West Germany, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Besides Navratilova and Mandlikova, other seeded players to post second-round victories in this $200,000 Wimbledon warmup were No. 3 Claudia Kohde-Kilsch of West Germany, No. 5 Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia, No. 6 Zina Garrison, No. 11 Jo Durie of Britain, No. 12 Dianne Balestrat of Australia and No. 14 Robin White.

Top-seeded Henri Leconte of France and second-seeded Tim Wilkison of the United States struggled before winning their second-round matches of the Bristol Trophy Grand Prix at Bristol, England.

Leconte, a semifinalist at the French Open earlier this month and seeded seventh at Wimbledon, defeated South Africa’s Danie Visser, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.

Wilkison came back from set point to beat Britain’s James Turner, 7-6, 6-1, and lead an American charge into the third round.

Among the U.S. winners was Bob Green, who beat Canada’s Glenn Mitchibata, 7-6, 3-6, 13-11.