Tennis Roundup : U.S. Sweeps China in First Round

Behind singles victories by Martina Navratilova and Zina Garrison, the United States Federation Cup team defeated China, 3-0, Tuesday to advance to the second round of the national-team, single-elimination tournament that is the women’s equivalent of the Davis Cup.

Navratilova blew away China’s Li Xinyi, 6-1, 6-0, in front of an overflow crowd at Stvanice stadium in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Garrison played in place of Chris Evert Lloyd, who had a flare-up of tendinitis in her left knee. Garrison beat Ni Zhong, 6-3, 6-2.

Navratilova and Pam Shriver then completed the three-match sweep with a 6-2, 6-0 victory in doubles over Duan Lilan and Pu Xiufen.

The top-seeded U.S. team will face Spain in the second round today. The Spaniards eliminated Indonesia on Tuesday.

Among other teams advancing Tuesday were third-seeded West Germany, fifth-seeded Bulgaria, and eighth-seeded Italy.

Mikael Pernfors, the former University of Georgia standout, fought off Claudio Panatta of Italy, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, in the first round of the $125,000 Swedish Open at Bastad.

Pernfors, the 1984 and 1985 NCAA singles champion, had not played a competitive clay-court match since the French Open final in early June, and it showed.

Ulf Stenlund, another Swedish surprise at the French Open, struggled to a 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Sergio Casal of Spain in another opening-round match.

Emilio Sanchez of Spain, Peter Carlsson of Sweden and Marian Vajda and Miloslav Mecir, both of Czechoslovakia, all advanced in straight sets over Swedish opponents.

Sanchez ousted Lars Anders Wahlgren, 6-3, 6-4; Carlsson trounced Niclas Kron, 6-0, 6-0; Vajda defeated Stefan Simonsson, 6-4, 6-1; and Mecir topped Joans B. Svensson, 6-1, 6-2.

Australian Davis Cup player Wally Masur, one point away from being down, 5-2, in the second set, recovered to defeat sixth-seeded Brian Teacher, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, in a first-round match at the $125,000 Volvo Tennis-New Jersey championships in Livingston, N.J.

Two other seeded players advanced to the second round. Fourth-seeded Matt Anger easily defeated U.S. Junior Davis Cup player Kelly Jones, 6-3, 6-4, and fifth-seeded Ramesh Krishnan of India won nine of the last 10 games to down Peter Fleming, 7-5, 6-1, and third-seeded Paul Annacone defeated Marty Davis, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.

At Brookline, Mass., top-seeded Andres Gomez of Ecuador and fourth-seeded Guillermo Vilas of Argentina fought off opening-set losses to gain second-round victories at the $279,000 U.S. Pro Championships.

Gomez, 26, scored a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 triumph over Lawson Duncan of Asheville, N.C., while Vilas overcame serve and forehand difficulties to gain a 6-7, 6-0, 6-1 victory over Michael Robertson of South Africa.

Earlier, second-seeded Thierry Tulasne of France and third-seeded Martin Jaite of Argentina scored straight-sets victories.

The pair, elevated to their seedings when Wimbledon champion Boris Becker and Yannick Noah withdrew because of injuries, scored easy victories. Tulasne needed just 53 minutes to score a 6-2, 6-2 win over Barry Moir of South Africa, while Jaite defeated Roberto Arguello of Argentina, 6-2, 6-4.