Tennis Roundup : Argentine Ends Georgia All-American’s Upset String

Georgia All-American Phil Johnson left the U.S. Pro Tennis Championships at Brookline, Mass., with no regrets, although he was eliminated Thursday.

Argentina’s Eduardo Bengoechea defeated Johnson, 6-4, 6-4, but Johnson walks away with his first tennis payday of the year, $4,046, after upsetting 10th-ranked Alberto Mancini of Argentina in the first round.

The day’s only major upset was Martin Jaite’s 6-3, 6-3 victory over fellow Argentine Guillermo Perez-Roldan, seeded fifth.

Fourth-seeded Jay Berger reached the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over No. 11 Fernando Luna of Spain.

In the longest match of the day, No. 6 Andres Gomez of Ecuador outlasted Broderick Dyke of Australia, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4).

Also advancing were No. 7 Jaime Yzaga of Peru, who defeated No. 10 Lawson Duncan, 6-4, 6-2, and No. 8 Jordi Arrese of Spain, who defeated West Germany’s Karsten Braasch, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1).

Jim Grabb won the second-set tiebreaker, 7-3, en route to a 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 victory over fellow American Brad Gilbert in the first round of the Gunze World tournament at Yokohama, Japan.

Grabb lost the first set after his serve was broken in the fourth game. But in the second-set tiebreaker, Grabb took control quickly, gaining a 5-0 lead. He later broke Gilbert’s serve in the ninth game of the third set to help earn the victory in the 2-hour 7-minute match.

In first-round women’s singles, Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina used a powerful serve to defeat Helen Kelesi of Canada, 6-0, 6-3.

Sabatini began the match by serving an ace and winning four consecutive points. In the first set, 85% of her first serves were good. She faltered somewhat in the second set, making only 50% of her first serves, but controlled play by breaking the serve of Kelesi, ranked 11th in the world, in the sixth and eighth games.

In another women’s first-round singles match, Miyagi Nana of Japan needed only 55 minutes to sweep American Halle Cioffi, 6-2, 6-3.

Cioffi said it was her first match in eight weeks after breaking a rib in a car accident in the United States.

Among today’s matches will be Jimmy Connors against fellow American Jim Courier.

Udo Riglewski of West Germany reached the quarterfinals of the $305,000 Swiss Open by outlasting third-seeded Emilio Sanchez of Spain, 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, at Gstaad, Switzerland.

It left No. 2 Aaron Krickstein and No. 8 Carl-Uwe Steeb of West Germany as the tournament’s only seeded players.

Krickstein beat unseeded Martin Strelba of Czechoslovakia, 6-2, 6-3, in second-round play.

Steeb, ranked 28th in the world, defeated Cassio Motta of Brazil, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (11-9).

In today’s quarterfinals, Krickstein meets Steeb.