Wilander Wins Opening Match After Struggle

Top-seeded Mats Wilander of Sweden had to struggle against unseeded Javier Frana of Argentina before prevailing 6-7 (8-6), 6-3, 6-2 in his opening-round match today at the $1-million Italian Open men’s tennis championship.

Americans Andre Agassi and Jimmy Connors, the No. 2 and No. 5 seeds, advanced to the second round with routine straight-set victories.

Agassi survived a brief second-set lapse to beat fellow American Todd Witsken 6-1, 6-4, while Connors rolled over French qualifier Cedric Pioline 6-4, 6-2.

Wilander, the world’s No. 4 player, fell behind 5-3 in the first set, won three straight games, then lost 8-6 in the tiebreaker.

Tentative and Confused

The once-steady Swede looked tentative and confused, making numerous unforced errors and letting his opponent dictate the pace of play.

Frana, perhaps dizzied by having taken the first set, began to fade in the opening games of the second. Playing defensively, Wilander kept the ball in play and waited for the Argentine to make the mistakes. Wilander broke serve twice in the final set to clinch the match.

“I’m not playing with great confidence at the moment,” Wilander said. “I just have to fight through it. Today after the first set I said to myself, ‘I can’t stand here and do nothing, I have to play harder.’ I realized that I really wanted to win this match.”

In Berlin, top-seeded Steffi Graf, ranked No. 1 in the world, overcame early deficits in both sets and went on to defeat Tine Scheuer-Larsen of Denmark 7-5, 6-4 today in the first round of the $300,000 Berlin women’s tennis tournament.