TENNIS ROUNDUP : Home Court No Advantage for McNeil Against Majoli
Iva Majoli of Croatia, a 14-year-old rookie pro ranked 537th in the world, upset fifth-seeded Lori McNeil, 6-3, 6-3, Wednesday in the Virginia Slims tournament at Houston.
McNeil, playing before her hometown fans, is the world’s 24th-ranked player. Majoli, leading, 5-3, in the second set, broke McNeil in the final game for the Croatian’s biggest victory as a pro.
“I just wanted to concentrate on hitting the ball,” Majoli said. “I was wondering what I would do at match point. But she missed her first serve, and I hit a good return on the next one and that was it.”
Top-seeded Monica Seles, the defending champion in the $350,000 event, defeated Mercedes Paz of Argentina, 6-0, 6-0.
Jim Courier swept Martin Damm of Czechoslovakia, 6-2, 6-1, in the second round of the Salem Open in Hong Kong. Kevin Curren also made the quarterfinals by upsetting second-seeded Michael Stich of Germany, 6-1, 6-3.
At Tampa, Fla., third-seeded MaliVai Washington barely outlasted unseeded Fernando Roese of Brazil, 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-1, in the second round of the USTA clay courts championship.
France’s Thierry Champion gained a measure of revenge over Switzerland’s Marc Rosset with a 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) victory in second round of the Nice Open in France. Rosset beat Champion in Davis Cup play two weeks ago as Switzerland ousted France in the quarterfinals.
Olivier Delaitre, who beat Bjorn Borg Tuesday, was ousted by fellow Frenchman Fabrice Santoro 7-6 (7-3), 7-5.
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