TENNIS ROUNDUP : Becker Struggles Past Novacek
Top-seeded Boris Becker started slowly, but went on to beat Karel Novacek of Czechoslovakia, 7-6, 6-2, Wednesday in the opening round of the Belgian Indoor Tennis Championships at Brussels.
Novacek, ranked 59th in the world, used a powerful serve to force a tiebreaker in the first set, but Becker won it, 7-4.
Becker then broke Novacek twice to win the second set.
Grant Connell of Canada pulled off his second consecutive upset, while top-seeded Ivan Lendl breezed to victory in the second round of the SkyDome tennis championships at Toronto.
Connell, who beat Dan Goldie in the first round, followed up by eliminating ninth-seeded Jim Courier, 6-3, 7-5. Lendl easily defeated Jimmy Brown, 7-5, 6-1. Second-seeded Brad Gilbert, No. 4 Aaron Krickstein, No. 5 Jay Berger and No. 6 Tim Mayotte also advanced.
Gilbert beat Alex Antonitsch of Austria, 6-3, 6-3, Krickstein downed Tom Nijssen of the Netherlands, 6-2, 6-2, Berger defeated Ramesh Krishnan of India, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, and Mayotte ousted Jim Pugh, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3.
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