U.S. Open Tennis Championships : Evert Gets Past Burgin, 6-4, 6-1

If there is one big smudge on Chris Evert’s reputation, it is how she bumped Elise Burgin from the 1988 U.S. Olympic tennis team.

Evert, who first told the United States Tennis Assn. that she didn’t want to play, changed her mind, and the USTA responded by giving her Burgin’s place on the team.

So there was an added twist when Evert met Burgin in a second-round match Wednesday at the U.S. Open.

Burgin, who had not played Evert since being replaced by her on the Olympic team, seemed on the verge of an upset when she led, 4-2, in the first set.

But Evert won 10 of the next 11 games on her way to a 6-4, 6-1 victory, setting up a third-round encounter with Patricia Tarabini of Argentina.

After the match, Evert said she hadn’t been thinking about her Olympic experience, which came at Burgin’s expense.

“That didn’t enter into it,” Evert said. “We talked it out, and that was a year ago.”

There were no upsets. Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain won her rain-delayed first-round match, and Steffi Graf of West Germany, Martina Navratilova, and Zina Garrison joined Evert as second-round winners, all in straight sets.

Graf required 44 minutes to oust Nathalie Herreman of France, 6-1, 6-1.

Navratilova had an easier time with Julie Halard of France, 6-1, 6-0, although it took one minute longer. Navratilova doesn’t expect it to get any easier. “I’ve been here every day; it’s a hard tournament, no question about it,” she said. “I think all the players will tell you that this is the most demanding of them all.”

Garrison defeated Gigi Fernandez, 7-5, 6-4, and Sanchez Vicario beat Jo-Anne Faull of Australia, 6-3, 6-1.