Men’s 35-and-Over Tournament : Smith Puts In a Long Weekend; It Pays Off

It wasn’t by choice, but Stan Smith and Ross Case took different routes in preparation for the final of the 35-and-over tournament at the Grand Champions resort.

Smith, 40, spent the two days prior to the final scrambling around the court in the hot sun and managed to survive tough, three-set matches on both days. On Saturday, he rallied from a 6-3 deficit in a third-set tiebreaker to beat Colin Dibley in the semifinals.

Then there was the case of Case. There were no three-set battles for him on Friday or Saturday because he didn’t play a singles match either day. His semifinal opponent, Dick Stockton, pulled a muscle in his neck and was forced to default.

So, what was the better route? Too much rest . . . or not enough?

Smith rested his case with a 6-4, 6-3 victory in the Sunday’s final before a crowd of 3,000.

“I got a little winded in the second set,” Smith said. “But I didn’t feel as tired as I thought I would feel.”

Case wasn’t exactly lying around by the pool in the sun while Smith was struggling on the court Friday and Saturday. There was doubles to worry about, and he had his own difficult match--a three-setter against Bob Lutz on Thursday--to recover from.

“After my match against Bob, I was really stiff and sore,” said the 35-year-old Case. “I probably would have like to have played a today, action begins in the $435,000 Pilot Pen tennis tournament here at Grand Champions Resort.

Seven of the top 10 players in the world are competing here this week. The top eight seeded players are Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, Yannick Noah, Mats Wilander, Henri Leconte, Joakim Nystrom, Miloslav Mecir and Mikael Pernfors.

With his victory in the Australian Open, Edberg moved past Wimbledon champion Becker to the No. 2 ranking, behind Ivan Lendl. Becker hasn’t played in a Grand Prix tournament since his fourth-round loss at the Australian Open. Wilander also is coming off a layoff, having missed Sweden’s Davis Cup final and the Australian Open.

The top eight players have first-round byes and traditionally don’t play on the opening day.

Today’s matches start at 10 a.m. and continue that way until Friday’s quarterfinals which are at 11. The semifinals and final, both televised on USA Network on Saturday and Sunday, are at 11:30.

Here are today’s featured matches involving seeded players:

Aaron Krickstein (15) vs. Scott Davis, Kevin Curren (14) vs. Milan Srejber, Thierry Tulasne (12) vs. qualifier Barry Moir, Kent Carlsson (9) vs. Gary Donnelly, and Martin Jaite (11) vs. Jakob Hlasek.

Edberg will meet the winner of the Ramesh Krishnan-Pablo Arraya match, while Becker plays the winner of the Andrew Sznaidjer-Tim Wilkison match.

Tennis Notes

The Pilot Pen lost a major drawing card when Australian Open runner-up Pat Cash notified officials Wednesday that he was unable to play at Indian Wells because of an unidentified injury. Cash had earlier solicited and accepted a wild-card offer from tournament director Charlie Pasarell. Pasarell eventually gave wild-card spots to Larry Stefanki, Andrew Sznaidjer and Rick Leach. That left two spots in the draw open, so Pasarell let the next two highest-ranking players, Matt Anger and Eddie Edwards, enter the tournament. . . . The seven qualifiers advancing into the main draw were Johan Carlsson, Jim Grabb, Christo Van Rensburg, Danie Visser, Dan Goldie, Barry Moir and Gary Muller. Goldie, who led Stanford to the NCAA team title and won the singles championship last spring, will play Johan Kriek today in the first round.