U.S. Trio Ousts Seeded Players in Australia

Americans Brad Pearce, David Pate and Scott Davis were spoilers today, ousting seeded players in the Australian Indoor championships.

Fifth-seeded Aaron Krickstein was another of the favorites to get caught up in the upset wave at the ATP tournament.

Pearce unleashed some fierce passing shots to spoil a 25th birthday for 13th-seeded Australian Darren Cahill 6-4, 6-1.

Pate downed No. 8 Richey Reneberg 6-2, 6-3, while Davis ousted No. 14 Jim Grabb 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Canadian Grant Connell upset Krickstein 7-6 (7-4), 6-0 in a second-round match. Connell, a doubles expert, romped through the second set in just 19 minutes.

Krickstein, who was beaten by fellow American Brad Gilbert in Sunday’s final of the Queensland Open, had no explanation for his latest loss.

“Sometimes these things happen,” he said. “There is nothing wrong with me; what do you want me to say?”

Mats Wilander of Sweden, once the world’s No. 1 player, continued his bid to get back toward the top with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Australian Mark Woodforde in a first-round match. Wilander, now 68th in the rankings, advanced to a second-round meeting with No. 2 seed Boris Becker.

In other tennis news, an ankle injury forced Monica Seles to withdraw today from this week’s Nokia Masters, a WTA tournament in Essen, West Germany.

Seles, ranked No. 3 in the world, injured her right ankle in a quarter-final singles against Amy Frazier in Tokyo last week. The ankle was placed in a protective brace and diagnosed as an injured lateral ligament in the joint.