Tennis Roundup : Becker Starts Tuning Up, Is Sharp

West Germany’s Boris Becker, preparing for his defense at Wimbledon, defeated Australia’s Peter Doohan, 6-2, 6-4, Tuesday in the opening round of the $300,000 Stella Artois tournament at the Queen’s Club in London.

The top-seeded Becker, going for his third successive All England title later this month at the age of 19, made the switch from the clay of Paris to his favorite grass surface with ease, winning in one hour.

Becker lost just 11 points on serve and pulled out 9 aces, including 3 in the last game.

“I am surprised how well I played,” he said after practicing for just 90 minutes on grass since competing in the French Open, where he reached the semifinals.

“The difference between grass and clay is like having a hot shower and a cold one. Everything is different. The main thing is you have to think differently,” he said.

Other first-round winners on the second day of the tournament--rain prevented play Monday--included defending champion Tim Mayotte and Sweden’s Stefan Edberg, two other grass-court specialists.

Mayotte, seeded sixth, defeated fellow American Todd Nelson, 6-2, 6-4, and Edberg beat Sammy Giammalva, 6-4, 6-3.

Mayotte, who won the tournament last year when Jimmy Connors defaulted in the second set of the final, said the conditions were too dangerous Tuesday.

“It was much too slippery,” he said.

Fourth-seeded Yannick Noah of France and 12th-seeded Slobodan Zivojinovic of Yugoslavia were eliminated in upsets, and Sweden’s Mats Wilander, a finalist at the French Open, was in trouble against West Germany’s Eric Jelen when bad light and rain halted play.

Wilander saved two match points in the second set against Jelen but was down, 6-3, 6-7, 2-0.

Noah, a quarterfinalist in the French Open, lost to Andreas Maurer of West Germany, 3-6, 7-6, 6-3, and Nduka Odizor of Nigeria defeated Zivojinovic, 6-4, 7-6.

In another match, seventh-seeded Pat Cash of Australia beat Richard Matuszewski, 6-4, 6-4.

Top-seeded Kent Carlsson of Sweden and second-seeded Martin Jaite of Argentina advanced to the second round of a $105,000 Grand Prix tournament at Bologna, Italy.

Carlsson defeated Tore Meinecke of West Germany, 6-1, 6-4, and Jaite beat Francisco Maciel of Mexico, 6-0, 6-2.

In the biggest upset of the day, Jimmy Brown defeated seventh-seeded Guillermo Perez-Roldan of Argentina, 7-5, 6-2.