TENNIS : Just as Connors Gets Going, Rain Puts Comeback on Hold

Age and injuries haven’t stopped him, but a downpour temporarily halted Jimmy Connors on Saturday night at the International Players Championships at Key Biscayne, Fla.

Connors, 38, is coming off wrist surgery and has not won a match in two years. The former No. 1 player and winner of eight Grand Slams was 0-3 last year and dropped from No. 14 to No. 936.

He lost his 1991 debut on Feb. 26 in Chicago to Jaime Yzaga and fell to No. 961 on the ATP computer.

Connors received a wild-card entry into this tournament. The crowd favorite showed he was a bit rusty at the start of the first-round match, losing the first two games to Udo Riglewski.

Connors seemed to figure out the 6-foot-3 German, playing deep to his backhand and taking the net.

Connors held at 40-15 to trail, 1-2, and broke back on a two-handed backhand pass. Both players held service and the match was tied, 3-3, when the rain intensified and forced a delay.

Stefan Edberg, the men’s top-seeded player, concentrated on getting his first serves in during blustery conditions and coasted to a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Bruce Derlin, ranked 292nd in the world.

Andres Gomez, the eighth seeded, eighth-ranked player and winner of the French Open last June, continued his fall by losing to unheralded Tomas Carbonell of Spain, 4-6, 6-2, 4-6.

Unseeded Tim Mayotte, the tournament’s first winner in 1985, defeated No. 11 Andrei Cherkasov, 6-4, 6-1, and No. 10 Michael Chang beat Jaime Yzaga, 6-3, 6-2.

In the women’s draw at Key Biscayne, Steffi Graf breezed through her second-round match, shrugging off her fall to No. 2 after a record 186 weeks as the top female player.

“I’m not concerned who’s number one or two,” Graf said after defeating Erika deLone, 6-1, 6-2, in 45 minutes. “To me, the tournament is important. I just want to do well.”

Top-ranked Monica Seles, seeded second because the computer ranking came out after the draw, overcame winds, drizzle and an early start to defeat Halle Cioffi, 6-1, 6-3.

In other matches, sixth-seeded Jennifer Capriati beat Gigi Fernandez, 6-3, 6-2, and third-seeded Gabriela Sabatini defeated Ann Henricksson, 6-1, 6-1.