Tennis Roundup : Becker Overpowers Amritraj, Puts Him Under

Vijay Amritraj couldn’t handle Boris Becker’s powerful serve, so Becker gave him a break, but it didn’t matter.

After three straight aces, Becker served an underhanded ace to the 35-year-old Amritraj while scoring a 6-1, 6-1 victory Thursday in the third round of the ATP Championships at Mason, Ohio.

“I’ve had tougher matches,” the top-seeded Becker said. “He realized that I was just a little better today than he was, (and) we both started to come down a little bit and have a little more fun.

“I was no more focused than usual. If I can beat a guy easily, I try to beat them easily. Most of the time people do not let me beat them easily. But from time to time, I’m having a good time hitting the ball, and the easy wins happen.”

In other matches, third-seeded Mats Wilander beat fellow Swede Niclas Kroon, 6-4, 6-2; second-seeded Stefan Edberg of Sweden outlasted Ramesh Krishnan of India, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3; and fourth-seeded Michael Chang defeated 14th-seeded Jim Courier, 6-3, 6-3.

Also, fifth-seeded Brad Gilbert struggled past Pete Sampras, 6-7 (7-5), 6-3, 6-4; and eighth-seeded Jaime Yzaga of Peru turned back Martin Davis, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-2); No. 12 Andres Gomez of Ecuador knocked off sixth-seeded Aaron Krickstein, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, and 10th-seeded Jonas Svensson of Sweden downed Gary Muller of South Africa, 6-4, 6-2.

Nicolas Pereira, 18, of Venezuela, surprised fourth-seeded Tim Mayotte, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, in the Canadian Open at Montreal.

Pereira, ranked 121st in the world, also ousted 14th-seeded Todd Witsken in the second round.

In another upset, 12th-seeded Andrew Sznajder of Canada beat fifth-seeded Kevin Curren, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.

In other matches, top-seeded Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia struggled before defeating No. 16 Jimmy Arias, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4; second-seeded John McEnroe beat Richey Reneberg, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), and third-seeded Andre Agassi beat Kelly Evernden of New Zealand, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.

Sixth-seeded Jay Berger downed Sammy Giammalva, 6-3, 7-5; Grant Connell of Canada defeated Jonathan Canter, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, and Alex Antonitsch of Austria outlasted Diego Nargiso of Italy, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Top-seeded Arantxa Sanchez of Spain was in a struggle with Betsy Nagelsen when darkness halted their match at 6-1, 4-6 in a Virginia Slims tournament at Albuquerque, N.M.

In other matches, fifth-seeded Lori McNeil defeated Claudia Porwikof of West Germany, 6-3, 7-5; seventh-seeded Anne Minter of Australia beat Elise Burgin, 6-3, 6-2, and sixth-seeded Amy Frazier downed Jana Pospisilova of Czechoslovakia, 6-3, 6-3.