Stars and Stripes, piloted by Dennis Conner,...

Stars and Stripes, piloted by Dennis Conner, raced to a convincing victory Sunday in the opening round of the America’s Cup yachting challenger eliminations off Fremantle, Australia.

Conner guided the San Diego Yacht Club’s challenger to a 5-minute 49-second victory over Italia, one of two Italian boats among the 13 yachts vying for the role as challenger against Australia’s cup defender in January.

The first 6 races of the 234-race challenger series were staged in 18-knot winds and choppy four-foot seas. Victories in the 13-race round-robin opening round are worth one point.

It was a day of mixed results for the six-boat American fleet.

Rod Davis sailed Eagle, the Newport Harbor Yacht Club entry, to victory by 9:21 over Challenger France, one of two French boats.

The New York Yacht Club, which held the cup continuously for 132 years before Australia’s victory, began its own attempt to recover the trophy when John Kolius guided America II to a 1:06 victory over a hard-luck Canada II that sailed with a badly torn mainsail.

In a match between the oldest and youngest skippers, 24-year-old Chris Dickson’s New Zealand, with the only fiberglass hull in the competition, trounced Heart of America, captained by 51-year-old Buddy Melges for the Chicago Yacht Club, by 6:29.

Tom Blackaller’s USA, representing the St. Francis Yacht Club of San Francisco, finished 11 seconds behind the British entry Crusader, captained by Harold Cudmore.