Tennis : Bunge Upsets Rinaldi; Gurney Ousted

Bettina Bunge upset eighth-seeded Kathy Rinaldi, 7-5, 6-4, and seventh-seeded Manuela Maleeva of Bulgaria ousted Melissa Gurney, 6-4, 6-1, Monday in the opening round of the $1-million Virginia Slims Championships at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Martina Navratilova begins defense of her title in the world’s richest women’s tournament tonight against Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden, with the winner to face Bunge in the quarterfinals.

The season-ending event features the world’s top 16 players, with only Chris Evert Lloyd missing because of injury.

The winner of Sunday’s best-of-five-sets singles final will collect $125,000, with $60,000 going to the runner-up.

After a first set in which there were seven service breaks, Bunge achieved the only break of the second set in the 12th game. Rinaldi was able to fight off one match point before she was long with a backhand to end the match.

Although Bunge is unseeded, she now has beaten Rinaldi in six of seven career meetings.

“Bettina is difficult to play against,” Rinaldi said. “You can’t get a rhythm against her. You don’t know what shots she’s going to come up with, and that’s what makes her a bit dangerous.”

Bunge, who finished with six aces, said: “I think I probably was a little more aggressive overall. I forced her more than she forced me.”

The 19-year-old Maleeva had to overcome a case of nerves in her match against the 17-year-old Gurney from Palos Verdes.

But, after being broken four times on her first six service games, she recovered her poise and swept the final six games, ending the match with her sixth ace.

“I was very nervous,” Maleeva said. “Ten minutes before the match, my arm was shaking and my leg was shaking. Suddenly, after the first four games, I relaxed and everything went as I wanted it to be.”

Maleeva attributed her nervousness to the fact she had failed to win a match in her two previous appearances in the Championships.