Tennis Roundup : Wilander Again Struggles to Victory in Italian Open

After reaching the top of the tennis world in 1988, Mats Wilander of Sweden has struggled this year.

His difficulties continued in the second round of the Italian Open at Rome Wednesday when for the second consecutive day he had to overcome a one-set deficit to defeat an opponent.

The top-seeded Wilander, who was ranked No. 1 in 1988, advanced to the third round by beating Javier Sanchez of Spain, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, in a match delayed 4 1/2 hours by rain.

Fifth-seeded Jimmy Connors also had to rally in his second-round match to beat Italian qualifier Massimo Cierro, 6-7 (9-7), 6-2, 6-3.

Wilander finally took control in the third set of his match after a freak play on which the ball hit him in the eye.

Down, 2-3, Sanchez drilled a first serve at 15-0 that bounced off Wilander’s racket. The ball then hit Wilander in his left eye. Play was stopped for three minutes as Wilander held a wet towel and an ice pack over the eye.

After returning to the court, Wilander lost the next two points to trail, 40-0. But aided by two unforced errors and a double fault by Sanchez, he won the next five points to score a decisive break.

“It took a few points to get my sight back,” Wilander said. “At the beginning I couldn’t really see clearly. It was like wearing someone else’s glasses. It feels OK now. I just hope it doesn’t swell up.”

Connors had a tough match against Cierro, who is ranked No. 200 in the world. With Cierro playing defensively from the baseline, Connors could not find a rhythm and made frequent errors. He dropped the first set by double-faulting at 7-8 in the tiebreaker.

But Connors played more aggressively in the second set and won easily on the strength of two service breaks. It was 3-3 in the final set when Connors came up with the decisive break, attacking Cierro’s second serve and scoring with a forehand volley winner.

In other matches Wednesday, seventh-seeded Aaron Krickstein was upset by Jordi Arrese of Spain, 6-4, 7-5. Eighth-seeded Guillermo Perez Roldan of Argentina edged Jerome Potier of France, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, and No. 10 Darren Cahill of Australia beat Martin Strelba of Czechoslovakia, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.

Top-ranked Steffi Graf of West Germany overwhelmed Niege Dias of Brazil, 6-0, 6-0, in a 39-minute match in the third round of the $300,000 Berlin women’s tournament.

In other third-round matches, Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina defeated Austria’s Petra Ritter, 6-4, 6-2; Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia beat France’s Marie Damas, 6-1, 6-1, and Austria’s Barbara Paulus eliminated Silke Meier of West Germany, 6-3, 6-3.

Third-seeded Sandra Birch of Stanford and fourth-seeded Jennifer Santrock of Southern Methodist advanced to the final of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. women’s championships at Gainesville, Fla., with straight-set semifinals victories.

Birch beat Stanford teammate Lisa Green, 6-4, 6-2, and Santrock defeated unseeded Noelle Porter of Pepperdine, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1. Birch and Santrock, who play today, have never met.

In the doubles final, Jackie Holden and Claire Pollard of Mississippi State will meet the Stanford team of Birch and Debbie Graham.

Porter, a freshman, said: “I was a little flat mentally, but that was mostly because of her. She doesn’t give you a chance to get your timing. She’s really aggressive and has a hit-or-miss kind of game.”