Tennis Roundup : McEnroe Turns Back Mecir in an Exhibition Match at Atlanta, 7-5, 7-6

John McEnroe beat Miloslav Mecir, 7-5, 7-6, in the first round of the AT&T; Challenge Tournament at Atlanta Tuesday night.

Paul Annacone defeated Ulf Stendlund, 6-1, 6-0, in the second match of the eight-player round-robin event.

“I served well. I was a little out of sync in the second set, but he got a little careless,” said McEnroe, who will meet Mecir in another exhibition match at Los Angeles next Monday. “I was lucky to win the second set because the momentum was swinging his way.”

While McEnroe has been suspended from all sanctioned events by the Men’s International Professional Tennis Council, he is allowed to compete in exhibitions.

At Scottsdale, Ariz., fifth-seeded Johan Kriek recovered from early concentration lapses to take a 7-6, 6-2 victory over Jaime Yzaga in the first round of a $303,400 WCT tournament.

Also scoring victories in 100-degree heat were Jim Grabb, Sweden’s Peter Lundgren and Mexico’s Jorge Lozano. Grabb defeated Jim Pugh, 6-0, 5-7, 6-4; Lundgren beat Blaine Willenborg, 6-3, 7-5, and Lozano eliminated Ken Flach, 7-6, 4-6, 6-1.

At Brisbane, Australia, fourth-seeded Ramesh Krishnan of India showed he is just as adept indoors as on grass when he beat Christian Saceanu of West Germany, 6-4, 6-4, in the first round of the $150,000 Queensland Open.