Lori McNeil Surprises Sabatini
Top-seeded Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina was ousted in the first round of the U.S. Women’s Hardcourt Championships, losing to Lori McNeil of Houston, the world’s 54th-ranked player, 6-3, 6-4 Thursday night.
Sabatini’s loss is her first in the first round of a tournament since October 1988, when she lost to Czechoslovakia’s Jana Novatna in three sets at a tournament in Fielderstadt, West Germany.
Sabatini was slapped with a code violation for illegal coaching in the last game of the first set. Her coach, Angel Gimenez of Spain, was sitting alone in the stands.
Sabatini denied she was receiving coaching signals from Gimenez.
“It was nothing special. Just ‘Come on,’ that’s all,” she said.
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