Tennis Roundup : U.S. Takes 2-0 Lead Over Britain in Wightman Cup

Kathy Rinaldi and Stephanie Rehe registered straight-set victories Thursday to give the United States a 2-0 lead over Britain in the 58th Wightman Cup tennis competition at London.

Rinaldi, a 19 year old playing in her third Wightman Cup, rallied to defeat Sara Gomer, 6-3, 7-6, while Rehe, a 16 year old seeing her first action in the historic series, defeated Annabel Croft, 6-3, 6-1.

So, even with top-ranked Martina Navratilova sitting out this tournament and No. 2 Chris Evert Lloyd home nursing an injured leg, the United States needs to win just two of the remaining five matches to win the Cup for the 48th time and ninth year in a row.

Last month at the U.S. Open, Rehe, from Highland, Calif., defeated Croft 6-2, 6-3, and Thursday, seven weeks later and 3,000 miles away, she made even faster work of her British opponent.

U.S. Coach Marty Riessen said: “We’re ready to go. We want to win this thing, and we want to take all the matches.”

Top-seeded Boris Becker of West Germany and fifth-seeded John McEnroe scored second-round victories in the $625,000 Paris Open, and Yannick Noah of France, the tournament’s second-seeded player, also made it through to the quarterfinals with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Karel Novacek of Czechoslovakia.

Noah meets eighth-seeded Tim Mayotte of the United States in the next round.

Becker, the two-time Wimbledon champion, beat Kevin Curren, 6-2, 6-4, and McEnroe defeated Ronald Agenor of Haiti, 7-6, 6-3.

Becker will meet Swede Jonas Svensson, and McEnroe takes on Sergio Casal of Spain in the quarterfinals today. Svensson advanced by ousting Guy Forget of France, 6-2, 6-1.

In other second-round matches, Mikael Pernfors of Sweden, this year’s French Open runner-up, beat Paul McNamee of Australia, 6-3, 7-6, and third-seeded Henri Leconte of France defeated Paolo Cane of Italy, 7-5, 6-4. LeConte and Pernfors meet in the quarterfinals.

Top-seeded Jimmy Connors turned back a surprisingly strong challenge from Bud Schultz to advance to the quarterfinals of the $200,000 Hong Kong Seiko tournament. Schultz, of Boston, scored with booming serves and powerful volleys before falling, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1.

Andres Gomez of Ecuador, seeking his third straight Hong Kong title, defeated Gary Donnelly of Scottsdale, Ariz., 7-6, 4-6, 6-3, and Aaron Krickstein of Grosse Pointe, Mich., overcame second-set difficulties to beat Marcel Freeman of Los Angeles, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.

David Pate, was upset, 7-5, 6-4, by Pat Cash, and Paul Annacone lost to Scott Davis, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.