Sabatini and Garrison Ousted : McEnroe Advances to Third Round at Wimbledon

John McEnroe overcame spotty play and a run-in with the umpire to advance to the third round at Wimbledon today, but No. 4 seed Gabriela Sabatini and No. 5 Zina Garrison were ousted from the women’s draw.

Ros Fairbank of South Africa, a solid grass-court player, beat Sabatini of Argentina, who is more at home on clay, 6-4, 6-3.

Louise Field, ranked 121st in the world, blew a 5-0 third-set lead before ousting Garrison, a 1985 semifinalist, 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 on her fifth match point.

Fifth-seeded McEnroe, who needed the comeback of his career to survive a first-round scare from Darren Cahill, beat fellow American Richey Reneberg 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Other seeds who advanced today included two-time champion Boris Becker, who won in straight sets on Centre Court. Also advancing were fourth-seeded Chris Evert of the United States; French Open champion Arantxa Sanchez of Spain, the seventh seed, and Natalia Zvereva of the Soviet Union, seeded ninth.

Evert, a three-time Wimbledon champion, came back from a 5-1 deficit in the first set to beat Hu Na 7-5, 6-3. The 34-year-old American, playing her 18th consecutive Wimbledon, won nine straight games to take the first set and lead the second 3-0. In all, she won 12 of the final 15 games.

Field, who had not gotten past the second round in a Grand Slam tournament, used mistakes by Garrison to get back into the match, then survived a third-set comeback bid to score her biggest victory.

“The chances were there. I just didn’t take them,” Garrison said. “It’s not like she blew me off the court.”

McEnroe, seeded fifth, lost five straight games as Reneberg wrapped up the second set and took a 1-0 lead in the third on McEnroe’s fifth of eight double faults.

After losing the opening game of the third set, McEnroe was upset and tossed his racket during the changeover. When umpire Bruno Rebeuh of France gave him a code warning for racket abuse, McEnroe exploded.

“That took a lot of guts. . . . An excellent decision,” McEnroe yelled at Rebeuh. “I bet it says in the rule book that if he throws his racket, call racket abuse. An excellent choice.”

Although he questioned some line calls--and muttered repeatedly to himself--McEnroe kept his temper in check the rest of the way and turned his game around just when it looked as if he might be eliminated in the second round at Wimbledon for the second year in a row.

“He tried hard. I tried hard. He had games where he got hot. I had games where I got hot. I just got hotter at the right time,” McEnroe said.

Becker, the third seed from West Germany, defeated American Richard Matuszewski 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 on Centre Court.

Other women’s seeds advancing to the third round included No. 12 Mary Joe Fernandez and No. 15 Lori McNeil of the United States and No. 14 Hana Mandlikova of Australia.