Tennis Roundup : Lendl, Becker Post Victories

Ivan Lendl, the world’s No. 1 tennis player, and Boris Becker, ranked No. 4, won first-round matches Wednesday in the $375,000 Seiko tournament at Tokyo.

Lendl trounced Jonathan Canter, 6-1, 6-4, while Becker struggled to a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Jim Grabb, ranked 78th in the world.

Afterward, Lendl told reporters: “I am in good condition now. After the U.S. Open in September I lost speed but regained it last Friday and Saturday when I won a tournament in Sydney.”

In other first-round matches, Eric Jelen of West Germany rallied to beat Ulf Stenlund of Sweden, 2-6, 7-5, 6-2, and West Germany’s Damir Keretic defeated compatriot Wolfgang Popp, 6-1, 6-1.

Unseeded Kathy Jordan won the last eight games to score her biggest victory in more than a year when she upset fourth-seeded Zina Garrison, 6-7, 6-2, 6-0, in the first round of a $200,000 women’s tournament at Brighton, England.

Garrison was the first seeded player to be eliminated.

Other seeded players, such as No. 2 Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina and No. 3 Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia, moved into the third round. Sabatini defeated Isabelle Demongeot, 6-2, 6-0, and Sukova ousted Pascal Paradis, 7-6, 6-1. No. 6 Katerina Maleeva of Bulgaria routed Svetlana Parkhomenko of the Soviet Union, 6-0, 6-1, in a first-round match.