Wimbledon Roundup : Grabb Continues His Hold on Swedes by Upsetting Jarryd

Several of the finest tennis players in the world are Swedes, but Jim Grabb is beginning to look forward to playing them.

It beats losing in the first round of the Wimbledon championships, as the former Stanford star did last year when he was eliminated by unseeded Claudio Panata of Italy.

This year the 63rd-ranked Grabb came up with a 3-6, 7-6, 6-3, 6-0 second-round victory Thursday over 11th-seeded Anders Jarryd, a Swede who was a quarterfinalist a year ago.

Jarryd was one of three seeded players eliminated from the men’s draw Thursday.

The others were No. 8 John McEnroe, who lost to Wally Masur 7-5, 7-6, 6-3, and No. 13 Emilio Sanchez of Spain, who lost to Petr Korda of Czechoslovakia, 7-6, 6-3, 3-6, 0-6, 6-1.

It wasn’t all upsets on a hot, sunny day at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

No. 5 Jimmy Connors beat Australian teen-ager Jason Stoltenberg, 7-6, 6-3, 6-3, and No. 2 Mats Wilander beat Glenn Michibata of Canada, 6-2, 7-6, 6-4. Other second-round winners included No. 3 Stefan Edberg, No. 9 Miloslav Mecir and No. 16 Slobodan Zivojinovic.

Connors, 35, was forced into a first-set tiebreaker against Stoltenberg, the top-ranked junior in the world last year. But after taking a 1-0 lead, the 18-year-old began making a lot of unforced errors and lost seven straight points to end the set.

“He’s a big, strong boy,” Connors said. “He hits some really good groundstrokes. I enjoyed playing him.”

The Centre Court crowd enjoyed it, too, especially during the tiebreaker when Connors playfully hit a practice pop-up to a ball boy who had just dropped a mishit moonball by Stoltenberg. The ball boy made the most of the second chance, catching the ball as the fans laughed and cheered.

“I’ve always enjoyed a little bit of something with the crowd to take my mind off the tension,” Connors said.

In women’s play, second-seeded Martina Navratilova needed only 58 minutes to defeat Elly Hakami, 6-2, 6-1. Third-seeded Pam Shriver, playing despite a bout with mononucleosis, also moved into the third round by beating Svetlana Parkhomenko of the Soviet Union, 6-3, 6-4.

“I’ve been checked out, and I’m OK to play, so here I am,” Shriver said.

No. 4 Chris Evert beat Christine Singer of West Germany, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Singer, ranked 93rd in the world, had five aces in the first two sets.

“I don’t think she normally plays like that or we would have heard from her before,” said Evert, who is in the same half of the draw as Navratilova.

Also advancing were No. 5 Gabriela Sabatini, No. 6 Helena Sukova, No. 8 Natalia Zvereva, No. 10 Lori McNeil, No. 13 Larisa Savchenko, No. 15 Sylvia Hanika and No. 16 Mary Joe Fernandez.

For Grabb, playing in only his second Wimbledon, it was a benchmark victory.

“I’ve had some other wins over big names, but the venue of this one is a little more attractive,” he said.

In his career, Grabb has defeated the world’s second- and third-ranked players--Wilander in the Stockholm Open last year and Edberg in a Grand Prix tournament at Memphis, Tenn., this year. Both are Swedes.

Not surprisingly, Grabb says he doesn’t mind playing the Swedes. But the American’s progress has been slow on the pro circuit.

“My game itself just developed slowly in different parts. I guess I just have to be patient in that respect.”

Grabb was patient against Jarryd, especially in the second-set tiebreaker when the American took advantage of what both players described as a pair of lucky shots.

“They were a forehand and backhand, both all rim,” Grabb said.

He won the tiebreaker, 7-5, and Jarryd started to fade.

Grabb broke in the fourth, seventh and final games of the third set and allowed Jarryd just four points in the final set.

“At the fourth set, I felt very tired out there,” Jarryd said. “In the end, when I was down to 0-4, I wanted to leave the court.”

The comic relief at this Wimbledon has been provided by a player who didn’t want to leave the court.

Barbara Potter caught everyone’s eye Wednesday when she changed shirts on the court behind a screen of towels held by ballgirls. Changing shirts is common for male players, but this was a first and last for the females. She has been informed by the All England Club that she must change shirts in the locker room from now on.