Tennis Roundup : Lendl Wins, Says He Plans to Skip 1990 French Open

Ivan Lendl is so consumed with winning Wimbledon that he intends to skip next year’s French Open to devote more time to preparing for the one Grand Slam tennis title that has eluded him.

“My next great goal, my only goal, is to win Wimbledon,” Lendl said after turning back Kelly Jones, 7-6, 6-1, in the second round of the $742,500 Canadian Open Wednesday at Montreal.

“I am 99 1/2% sure I will skip (the French Open), but I don’t want to say for sure,” said Lendl, who has won three French titles.

Also at Montreal, John McEnroe, who shouted at fellow American Ned Caswell and argued often with chair umpire Chris O’Brien, gathered himself after a second-set lapse to beat Caswell, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

In other matches, Tim Mayotte defeated Philippe Pech of France, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5); Jonathan Canter downed Martin Laurendeau of Canada, 6-3, 7-5, and Diego Nargiso of Italy upset ninth-seeded Guillermo Perez-Roldan of Argentina, 6-4, 6-2.

Top-seeded Boris Becker defeated Patrick McEnroe, 6-4, 6-1, in the ATP Championships at Mason, Ohio.

In other matches, third-seeded Mats Wilander of Sweden beat Joey Rive, 6-4, 6-4; fourth-seeded Michael Chang ousted Jim Grabb, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), and No. 14 Jim Courier turned back Robert Seguso, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Second-seeded Pam Shriver, who last week had easily defeated 110th-ranked Stacey Martin at Manhattan Beach, Calif., lost to Martin, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4, in the second round of the United Jersey Bank tournament at Mahwah, N.J.

“This is a much slower hard court and my game was neutralized by it,” Shriver said.

In other matches, top-seeded Steffi Graf defeated Japan’s Etsuko Inoue, 6-1 6-1, and Andrea Temesvari of Hungary rallied to oust fourth-seeded Katerina Maleeva of Bulgaria, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.

Chris Evert has decided to play in a record 19th U.S. Open, which starts Aug. 28, the Women’s International Tennis Assn announced.

Evert, who has not played since she lost to Steffi Graf at Wimbledon July 6, will play in the Canadian Open in Toronto next week.