Unseeded Swede Upsets Lendl

Defending champion Ivan Lendl, hampered by an injured chest muscle, was upset today in the French Open quarterfinals by unseeded Jonas B. Svensson of Sweden.

Svensson, ranked 21st in the world, varied his backcourt game with well-timed volleys at the net to beat the defending champion 7-6, 7-5, 6-2. “I don’t think anybody expected that, and certainly not me,” said Svensson, a 21-year-old blond. Lendl was winner of the French Open in 1984, 1986 and 1987. In a semifinal battle of the top women’s seeds left in the year’s second Grand Slam tournament, Steffi Graf, the top-seeded woman, downed Gabriela Sabatini 6-3, 7-6 in a match between the two dominant figures in a rising generation of 18-year-old players. Graf has lost only twice this year, both times to Sabatini.