3 of Top Seeds Defeated in 2nd Round of Japan Open

Three of the top seeds--No. 4 Yannick Noah of France, No. 6 Kevin Curren of the United States and No. 7 Andres Gomez of Ecuador--all suffered upsets today in the second round of the $752,500 Japan Open Tennis Championships.

No. 2 Stefan Edberg of Sweden, continuing to play well after his country’s Davis Cup quarterfinal victory over Austria last week, breezed past Zeeshan Ali of India 6-2, 6-2.

Noah, ranked 13th in the world, fell 6-4, 7-5 to American Glenn Layendecker. Curren was defeated by American Richard Matuszewski 7-6 (10-8), 1-6, 7-6 (7-2), while Gomez lost to Nicolas Pereira of Venezuela, 6-4, 6-1.

Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash of Australia, sidelined since February with an elbow injury, started his comeback by surviving six match points before beating Grant Connell of Canada 4-6, 7-6 (12-10), 7-5.

Layendecker, ranked 99th in the world, attributed his triumph to “the combination of Noah’s off form and my consistent serve-and-volley game. It’s one of my biggest victories.”

Noah agreed that his play was not the best.

“It’s my first match with him,” Noah said. “I don’t know which one is better or which one is worse. The court is good, and my game is poor.”

Cash, the 16th seed, made up for erratic play with 15 aces in his 2-hour, 33-minute match against Connell on the hard court of the Ariake Colosseum.

“The condition of my elbow is OK now, and I am satisfied with today’s match,” Cash said. He is ranked 55th in the world, contrasted to his No. 7 ranking in 1984.

Top seed Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia and defending champion John McEnroe of the United States, the third seed, drew byes in the first and second rounds.

In a tournament today at Nice, France, Kent Carlsson of Sweden, the top seed and No. 6 player in the world, lost in the first round of the $200,000 Swatch Open as he bowed to Claudio Pistolesi of Italy. Pistolesi won 6-0, 3-6, 6-2 to eliminate the 1987 champion. Carlsson won five tournaments in 1988, all on clay.