Australian Open Tennis : Fading McNamara Falls to a Rejuvenated Davis

California-born Scott Davis, who once ranked 11th in the world, struggled for 3 hours 25 minutes Monday before defeating Peter McNamara of Australia, 7-6, 6-4, 2-6, 3-6, 6-4, to advance to the second round of the Australian Open tennis championships.

Davis, who is rated 39th, credited his Australian coach, Bob Brett, with giving him the fitness to rally against McNamara, who led, 3-0, in the final set before an excited center court crowd at Kooyong.

“Since I signed up with him (last year), everything has started going right,” Davis said.

McNamara, a Davis Cup veteran whose ranking has slipped to 336 from No. 7 after a series of injury setbacks, admitted his career was virtually over.

“The other guys want to win a lot more,” he said. “They have the desire.”

The Open, being played at Kooyong for the last time before switching from grass to a-yet-to-be- decided surface at the new national tennis center, got off to a slow start with seeded players in the men’s and women’s singles being given first-round byes.

Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia is top seeded in the men’s event.

American Alycia Moulton was among the first-round winners. She ousted Claudia Porwick of West Germany, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, to earn a meeting with third-seeded Pam Shriver.

Julie Richardson of New Zealand beat Michelle Turk of Australia, 6-1, 6-3, to clinch a second-round berth against second-seeded Hana Mandlikova. Martina Navratilova is top seeded.

Veteran Tina Mochizuki surprised Molly Van Nostrand of the United States, 6-1, 6-3, in a first-round match, while Camille Benjamin of the United States recovered from a poor start to defeat Anne Minter, 0-6, 6-4, 6-4.