Tennis Roundup : Altitude, Holmes Get to Connors

Jimmy Connors had a built-in excuse but he didn’t really want it.

Even the top players in the $315,000 Volvo International had problems controlling the tennis ball in the altitude at Stratton Mountain, Vt., but all of them won--except Connors, a 7-5, 7-5 loser to Greg Holmes in the first round Tuesday.

“I did have a problem (making) an adjustment,” Connors admitted. “I just got here from Washington (Monday). But it’s difficult for everybody.”

“I was a bit flat. But like a tire, just because I was flat today doesn’t mean I’ll be flat next week. You can fix a flat tire. A lot of times, you’re able to fight through the flat periods; today I wasn’t.”

Connors fought off three match points before Holmes put him away.

Wimbledon champion Pat Cash of Australia, seeded third, lost a first-set tiebreaker but rebounded to beat Kelly Evernden of New Zealand, 6-7, 6-2, 6-4.

“It was difficult to get my timing at first, with the altitude,” Cash said, referring to the 1,900-foot elevation.

“I just tried to keep the ball in the court. The balls were zinging around everywhere. I just tried to be consistent.”

In other matches, top-seeded Ivan Lendl beat Marc Flur, 6-4,, 6-3, and No. 4 John McEnroe defeated Jonathan Canter, 6-3, 6-2.

Eighth-seeded Scott Davis eliminated Dan Goldberg, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 13th-seeded Paul Annacone ousted Gary Donnelly, 6-2, 7-5, Vijay Amritraj of India rallied to beat Johan Carlsson of Sweden, 0-6, 6-4, 7-5, and sixth-seeded Brad Gilbert trounced Larry Scott, 6-4, 6-0.

Australian Peter Doohan, seeded 14th, downed Bill Scanlon, 7-5, 6-0, Australian Mark Kratzmann upset No. 10 Wally Masur, also of Australia, 1-6, 7-6, 7-5, Simon Youl of Australia beat Richey Reneberg, 6-4, 7-6, and Joey Rive downed Mel Purcell, 7-6, 6-3.

Top-seeded Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia rallied to turn back Thierry Champion of France, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, in a first-round match at a $150,000 Grand Prix tournament at Kitzbuhel, Austria.

It took Mecir, ranked fifth in the world, more than two hours to shake off Champion in a match that was interrupted briefly by rain.

In other matches, second-seeded Emilio Sanchez of Spain trounced Roberto Arguello of Argentina, 6-1, 6-3, fourth-seeded Guillermo Perez-Roldan of Argentina swept past Bruno Oresar of Yugoslavia, 6-3, 6-0, 13th-seeded Tomas Smid of Czechoslovakia, downed Victor Pecci of Paraguay, 7-6, 6-1, and Diego Perez of Uruguay beat Eric Jelen of West Germany, 6-4, 6-4.

Also, Austria’s Darren Cahill defeated third-seeded Karel Novacek of Czechoslovakia, 6-3, 6-3, Tore Meineke of West Germany beat Guillermo Vilas of Argentina, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, Romanian Davis Cupper Florin Segarceanu upset fifth-seeded Ulf Stenlund of Sweden, 7-6, 6-4, Pablo Arraya of Paraguay surprised ninth-seeded Milan Srejber of Czechoslovakia, 6-2, 1-6, 6-4, Wolfgang Popp of West Germany defeated Richard Vogel of Czechoslovakia, 6-4, 6-3, and Christer Allgarth of Sweden beat Marian Vajda of Czechoslovakia, 6-3, 6-3.

Sixth-seeded Thierry Tulasne of France beat Ivo Werner of West Germany, 6-7, 7-6, 6-1, Ricki Osterthun of West Germany defeated countryman Harald Rittershacher, 6-4, 6-4, 15th-seeded Andreas Maurer of West Germany rallied to beat Argentina’s Javier Frana, 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 and Hans-Joerg Schwaier of West Germany beat Cesar Kist of Brazil, 6-3, 6-2.

Second-seeded Kate Gompert trounced Camille Benjamin, 6-3, 6-1, in a second-round match at a $75,000 Virginia Slims tournament at San Diego, but three other seeded players fell by the wayside.

Carina Karlsson of Sweden upset No. 11 Eva Pfaff of West Germany in an opening-round match, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6, and Patricia Tarabini of Argentina topped No. 9 Wendy White, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6, in second-round play.

No. 13 Lisa Bonder withdrew because of a foot injury.