Tennis Roundup : Connors Is Upset by Seguso, but Becker, McEnroe Win

Robert Seguso upset second-seeded Jimmy Connors, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, Thursday night in the third round of the U.S. Men’s Hardcourt Tennis Championships at Indianapolis.

Third-seeded Brad Gilbert, sixth-seeded Aaron Krickstein and eighth-seeded Peter Lundgren also were eliminated.

However, top-seeded Boris Becker breezed to a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Rick Leach, and John McEnroe, seeded fourth, defeated 11th-seeded John Frawley, 6-7, 6-2, 6-3, after a struggle.

Seguso served 13 of his 24 aces in the first set of the match, winning the sixth game of the set by serving four aces. The 15th-seeded player smashed a backhand winner in the final point of the third-set tiebreaker to end the match, which lasted 2 hours 36 minutes.

Seguso’s only other victory over Connors in six previous matches came in the first round of the 1986 Wimbledon championships. In their most recent meeting before this tournament, Seguso pushed Connors before losing, 3-6, 7-6, 10-8, at the Queen’s tournament in London earlier this year.

Jim Pugh, seeded 13th, defeated Gilbert, 6-0, 6-4, hitting a cross-court winner on match point to advance into the quarterfinals against Todd Witsken, a resident of nearby Carmel, Ind. Witsken eliminated Krickstein, 6-2, 6-2.

Senegal’s Yahiya Doumbia defeated Lundgren, 6-4, 6-4, in the day’s other surprise, earning a quarterfinal meeting with Becker. Derrick Rostagno, seeded 10th, eliminated John Ross, 6-4, 7-5, to earn a quarterfinal berth against Seguso.

Michael Robertson advanced by defeating Mark Dickson, 6-4, 6-4.

Amateur Ann Grossman survived two match points to oust fifth-seeded Robin White, 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, in a second-round match at the $100,000 Virginia Slims of San Diego women’s tournament.

Grossman, 17, from Grove City, Ohio, became the second player from the pre-tournament qualifying competition to reach the quarterfinals in the 32-player event. She will face the other qualifier, amateur Jennifer Santrock, of Plano, Tex., tonight.

With the upset of White, four seeded players failed to advance beyond the second round, including No. 1 Patty Fendick, who defaulted in first-round play because of a calf injury.

In another quarterfinal Thursday, No. 4 Rosalyn Fairbank eliminated No. 8 Jo Durie, 6-2, 6-4.

Sixth-seeded Thomas Muster of Austria became the first player to advance to the quarterfinals in the $290,000 Austrian Open at Kitzbuhel. Several matches were halted by rain.

Muster defeated Claudio Pistolesi of Italy, 6-4, 6-1.

In another third-round match, third-seeded Kent Carlsson of Sweden defeated Sergio Casal of Spain, 6-2, 6-2, and Luiz Mattar of Brazil, seeded ninth, downed unseeded Franco Davin of Argentina, 6-3, 6-3.

In a Grand Champions tournament for players 35 and over at Brewster, Mass., Harold Solomon defeated Frew McMillian, 6-4, 6-0, in the second round.

In other matches, Stan Smith beat Cliff Richey, 6-2, 6-2, and Bob Lutz edged Colin Dibley, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4.