Tennis Roundup : Marcel Freeman Pulls Off a Pair of Upset Victories

Marcel Freeman of Los Angeles upset eighth-seeded Johan Kriek, 6-7, 7-6, 6-2, Tuesday in the first round of the $375,000 Assn. of Tennis Professionals Championship at Mason, Ohio.

Freeman, ranked 60th in the world, then teamed with Brian Teacher to upset the No. 1-seeded doubles team of Mats Wilander and Joakim Nystrom of Sweden, 6-4, 3-6, 6-0.

“It’s one of my biggest wins ever and I’m happy with it,” the former UCLA star said of his victory over Kriek, who is ranked 18th in the world.

Later, second-seeded Jimmy Connors withstood a difficult second set to defeat Ronald Agenor of Haiti, 6-1, 7-5, in another first-round match.

Connors, after breezing through the first set, appeared to tire. He fell behind 3-5 before rallying for a 5-5 tie. At that point, Agenor questioned a line call, slammed his racket to the court and seemed to lose his concentration.

“I did have the flu, but I felt pretty good today,” said Connors. “But, I’m going to be 34 years old in a couple of weeks and I don’t think I’m ever 100% physically anymore.”

A Swedish quartet of Stefan Edberg, Nystrom, Mikael Pernfors and Kent Carlsson all posted impressive victories.

The third-seeded Edberg defeated Tony Mmoh of Nigeria, 6-2, 6-2, while the fourth-seeded Nystrom breezed past Derrick Rostagno, 6-2, 6-2. Pernfors, who is seeded fifth, beat Matt Doyle of Ireland, 3-6, 6-2, 6-0, and Carlsson, seeded ninth, defeated Amos Mansdorf of Israel, 6-2, 7-6.

At Mahwah, N.J., Steffi Graf of West Germany defeated Anne Minter of Australia, 6-1, 6-2, in 41 minutes to advance to third round of a $150,00 women’s tournament.

The top-seeded Graf, ranked No. 3 in the world, allowed Minter only nine points in the first set.

“The match was so easy that it was difficult to concentrate,” said the 17-year-old Graf, who is playing in her first tournament since the French Open. She was sidelined for the first half of the summer with a virus and then broke her toe in a freak accident at the Federation Cup in Prague, Czechoslovakia, last month.

Eighth-seeded Raffaella Reggi of Italy and 11th-seeded Katerina Maleeva of Bulgaria were both upset. Pascale Paradis defeated Reggi, 7-6, 6-4, while Elna Reinach of South Africa beat Maleeva, 6-0, 6-4.

Melissa Gurney, seeded 12th, swept to a 6-0, 6-1 victory over amateur Christine O’Reilly in a first-round match.