Angry McEnroe, After a Warning, Advances Easily

John McEnroe criticized his early starting time and was warned for taking a swipe at the playing surface with his racquet before beating Eric Jelen 6-4, 6-1 today to reach the quarterfinals of a $440,000 Grand Prix tournament.

The fiery 30-year-old New Yorker ripped through the last six games at the Wembley Arena to beat the West German in 66 minutes.

McEnroe was joined in the final eight by Australian Wally Masur, a 7-6, 6-1 winner over Martin Strelba, conqueror of defending champion Jacob Hlasek in the first round.

McEnroe, who played late Wednesday, said it was unfair to come back so soon.

“I don’t feel like it was the proper decision by the referee to start me so early,” he said. “I don’t see why they had to do that.”

The top-seeded McEnroe also criticized the state of the Supreme court at the indoor arena, where fellow American Ken Flach injured an ankle in a doubles match Wednesday and put in jeopardy his hopes of playing in the Masters doubles in December.

Flach was to be examined by a doctor today to determine whether he could continue in this tournament.

“There’s a lot of stickiness behind the base line, and it’s dangerous,” McEnroe said. “It’s not something that should be there.”

McEnroe showed few signs of being troubled by the conditions or by the play of his opponent.

He wasn’t as sharp as on Wednesday against Scott Davis, but he broke Jelen’s serve in the opening game and it was enough to give him the first set.

Jelen came out strong in the second set and won the opening game with an ace.

But it was Jelen’s last moment of inspiration, and the next time he served, he double-faulted on break-point to fall behind 2-1.

The match was virtually over, but McEnroe, a perfectionist, was warned in the fifth game for racket abuse when he swiped and hurled it at the court after Jelen had saved three break points.

It didn’t affect the outcome, however.

McEnroe broke serve again on his fifth break point for 4-1, then watched Jelen lose the match with a stream of volleying errors.

“He’s a talented player, but he gets mentally distracted,” McEnroe said. “I think his concentration lapsed at 1-1 in the second set.”

McEnroe, winner of seven Grand Slam singles titles, said he, too, has to work on the mental side of his game as his career enters its final phase.

“My goal is to prepare mentally for the majors,” he said. “This year, I wasn’t as prepared as I could have been. I was discouraged by knee problems, and I was not on top of my game. You can’t go into a major with that attitude and win seven matches.”