TENNIS AUSTRALIAN OPEN : Rematch Also Goes to Gilbert

Brad Gilbert wasn’t winning any friends, but he got the victory he wanted in the first round of the Australian Open Tuesday.

Gilbert, seeded seventh, beat fellow American David Wheaton, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), in an ill-tempered rematch of their Grand Slam Cup near-brawl in Munich last month.

In Munich, Gilbert got into a shouting match with Wheaton’s brother and agent, John, then with Wheaton, and wound up charging Wheaton and pushing him with his arms. Wheaton shoved back with his chest and the two had to be separated by officials. Each player was fined $5,000.

Their Australian meeting produced none of that. Instead, they exchanged steely stares at the start of the match, both disputed line calls, and had a perfunctory handshake at the end. For the rest of the 3-hour 25-minute match, they ignored each other.

It came on a day when there was only one upset of note at the National Tennis Center, where unseeded Jimmy Arias overcame leg cramps to beat ninth-seeded Andrei Chesnokov of the Soviet Union, 6-0, 6-3, 4-6, 2-6, 6-4.

For Gilbert and Wheaton, the only upset is in the way they feel about each other.

“I don’t like him,” Wheaton said. “He does a lot of stuff on court. He’s always moaning. A lot of people don’t get on with him. I just try to act like he’s not there.”

The crowd was clearly on Wheaton’s side, booing, jeering and yelling abuse at Gilbert.

“No one likes you, Gilbert,” one spectator shouted.

Gilbert, 29, remained unmoved by the tumult, but directed a subtle needle in the direction of his 19-year-old opponent, calling their rivalry “a little one-sided.”

Gilbert, who served 21 aces to Wheaton’s 16, is 5-0 against his younger foe. He said he had no problems with the crowd: “I go to football games. I like to shout too.”

Wheaton left with respect for his foe and disappointment in himself. “He’s tough and he always hangs in there,” he said. “I was out of shape. It’s a shame I wasted a Grand Slam. I didn’t put in the time. It’s like taking an exam without studying.”

Cramps or not, Arias was prepared, although Chesnokov won the first two games of the fifth set before the American rallied.

“I couldn’t serve,” Arias said.

The cramps began in the third set and kept up through the fourth set until a trainer came on court and give first aid, a hot cream.

“It was so absurdly hot, I just thought about the pain and forgot the cramps,” Arias said.

In other matches, No. 5 Goran Ivanisevic of Yugoslavia beat Sergi Bruguera of Spain, 6-4, 0-6, 6-1, 6-4; No. 6 Emilio Sanchez of Spain defeated Mark Woodforde of Australia, 0-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2; and Scott Davis beat Austria’s Alex Antonitsch, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3, in a match that nearly erupted into a locker-room brawl. After the match, Antonitsch, annoyed by line calls and courtside comments from Davis’ doubles partner, David Pate, told Davis, “America should send guys like you to Iraq.”

In the women’s draw, No. 1 Steffi Graf beat Maya Kidowaki of Japan, 6-1, 6-0; No. 2 Monica Seles shut out Sabine Hack of Germany, 6-0, 6-0, and No. 3 Mary Joe Fernandez beat Britain’s Sara Gomer, 6-1, 6-0.

Seles, who said she was “too tired” last week, appeared rejuvenated after taking time off and watching her idol, Janet Evans, in the world swim championships.

“I was trying to forget (tennis) for a while,” Seles said.