Australian Open Tennis : Becker Is Upset by the Forgotten Swede

In Sweden, a long shadow has been cast over Jonas Bengst Svensson, who is only the fourth-best player in his native country.

But in the bright mid-day sunshine that filled Center Court, the glare of the Australian Open was directed squarely at Svensson.

Not Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg or even Kent Carlsson.

Svensson, on his own against Boris Becker, scored a shocking straight-set victory over the the No. 3 seeded Becker, 7-6, 6-4, 6-3.

For Svensson, it was his biggest victory since the French Open when he defeated Ivan Lendl in straight sets.

For Becker, it was the end of a remarkable string of success beginning in November when he won two Grand Prix tournaments, the Nabisco Masters and led West Germany to victory in the Davis Cup final.

Becker said he was actually relieved to be taking a mental break along with his elimination. He said his defeat was not a major setback.

“Definitely not,” he said. “After the Masters and the Davis Cup, I just couldn’t get keyed up for this tournament. It wasn’t like I played terrible. I just got beat. That makes it a little easier for me to take.”

Becker was not terrible, but neither was he very good. The world’s No. 4 player committed 35 unforced errors and made only 48% of his first serves.

Becker threw his racket once and yelled in disgust several times, which Svensson was glad to notice.

“When Boris is screaming, I feel he’s on his way down mentally,” Svensson said. “Normally, the way he looks on the court, the way he walks, he looks so safe.”

Svensson, a baseliner in the mold of his more publicized countrymen, seemed to keep Becker off his game the entire match by concentrating on hitting to Becker’s backhand.

Becker said the match turned in the first set tiebreaker. The most crucial point was with Svensson leading, 5-4. He hit a poor drop shot, but it caught Becker flat-footed on the baseline where he was expecting a hard return to his backhand.

“When I lost the tiebreak, I said, ‘Well, I can lose a set, but I haven’t lost the match,’ ” Becker said.

Soon, he had. Becker lost a chance to break in the fifth game of the second set at love-40, but Svensson held, one of only two break point opportunities for Becker, who lost the other at 1-2 in the third. The rest was easy for Svensson.

Very little else has been easy for Svensson, 22, who admitted he is not well-known in many circles despite his victory over Lendl in the French.

“I’m No. 4 in Sweden, so it’s easy to be overlooked, I guess,” he said.

Svensson said he was confident of victory long before he took the court. After practicing with Anders Jarryd, Svensson had a familiar feeling.

“It was almost like in Paris,” he said. “I think this is one of the first times I thought I could win. Usually, I go out with the negative.”

Becker said it just wasn’t his day and accepted defeat gracefully. Sort of.

“Sure, I made a couple of mistakes here and there, but I don’t think I played that badly,” Becker said. “When he’s playing not his best tennis, he hits it out, hits it in the net. But today he played 3 sets of marvelous tennis.

“When he’s hot, he’s hot.”

One of the hottest players to reach the quarterfinals is 17-year-old Yugoslav Goran Ivanisevic, who came from 2 sets down to beat Leonardo Lavelle of Mexico, 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1.

Ivanisevic, a qualifier, said he will feel no pressure in the quarterfinals. But can he win?

“Everything is possible in tennis,” he said.

Ivanisevic, who received a fine for ball abuse in the third set when he knocked a ball into some trees, is scheduled to meet ninth-seeded Miloslav Mecir. Beating him may not be possible for Ivanisevic, but then Svensson wasn’t supposed to beat Becker either.

Jan Gunnarsson of Sweden also made it to the quarterfinals by defeating Michiel Schapers of the Netherlands, 7-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Martina Navratilova, who never travels without taking her mattress, pillows, sheets, towels and pasta with her, brought her powerful forehand to Center Court.

Navratilova defeated Hana Mandlikova in fairly easy fashion, 6-4, 6-1, on Center Court to advance to the quarterfinals against Czech Helena Sukova, who came back from 2-5 in the first to defeat Catherine Tanvier of France, 7-5, 6-4.

In other matches, Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden defeated Judith Wiesner of Austria, 7-5, 6-2, and Belinda Cordwell of New Zealand defeated Brenda Shultz of the Netherlands, 6-3, 6-2, to set up a quarterfinal meeting.

The second-seeded Navratilova experienced trouble only briefly in the first set before Mandlikova’s balky serve turned the match around.

Mandlikova, who served 9 double faults, was serving to go up, 4-2, in the first, but double faulted to 15-30 and double faulted again on game point.

“Her serve still needs work,” Navratilova said. “For someone who likes to serve and volley, when your serve lets you down, it’s hard to stay in it emotionally.”

Mandlikova was unable to stay in it at all in a lackluster second set and submitted meekly although she said she was satisfied with getting through three rounds.

“She could have lost any of her first 3 matches,” said Mike Estep, Mandlikova’s coach.

Navratilova, with a new enthusiasm, will soon have something else new to match. The Martina Navratilova sportswear line of tennis clothing is due out this summer. The clothes are designed by Judy Nelson, Navratilova’s close friend.

A battle of Americans, John McEnroe and Aaron Krickstein, is a feature match Tuesday with a quarterfinal berth at stake.

Krickstein, who has battled numerous injuries, is 0-2 against McEnroe.

“But I think it is a good time to be playing him,” Krickstein said. “He might not be playing his best, like he was in ‘84, but then again you never know.

“I think he’s capable of playing maybe a great match here and there, we’ll just have to see if he can play a whole tournament.

“Sometimes (his serve) isn’t as good (and) people say he doesn’t quite have the speed and accuracy, but he’s still McEnroe.”

McEnroe, who defeated Patrick Kuhnen in his most impressive match of the tournament, said he is pleased with his progress.

“That was the most relaxed I’ve felt and the best I’ve played within myself for a long time,” he said.

If McEnroe gets past Krickstein, he would play either Ivan Lendl or Amos Mansdorf and McEnroe would like to meet Lendl. But could he win his first Grand Slam tournament since the 1984 U.S. Open?

“I feel like I’m ready to give it a shot,” he said. “If I can get by this match, it’s there for me.”

What men’s player does Steffi Graf like to watch on the court?

“John McEnroe,” she said. “The way he is, with what he can do with his hands, it’s incredible. I mean he can do everything.”

McEnroe and Mark Woodforde defeated the top-seeded doubles team of Anders Jarryd and John Fitzgerald 3-6, 3-6, 6-1, 7-5, 6-2, in a quarterfinal match Monday.

Woodforde, who teamed with McEnroe for the first time at the Volvo/Los Angeles event last September, said playing with McEnroe has expanded his concept of doubles.

“By far, he is the best doubles player that I have ever seen,” Woodforde said. “Some of the shots he plays and the tactics, reading the ball so well, it’s extraordinary.

“When I play for someone else and I say ‘Let’s try this’ and they sort of look at me really strange, one step behind me again. So now, if I want to be any good, I can follow maybe in his footsteps.”