TENNIS ROUNDUP : Becker Slips on Wet Grass, Falls to Van Rensburg

Boris Becker’s preparation for Wimbledon has received another setback.

Third-seeded Becker was eliminated, 6-4, 6-3, by Christo Van Rensburg of South Africa, Wednesday in the second round of the Queen’s Club grass-court tournament at London.

Sixth-seeded Ivan Lendl also was ousted in the second round, 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 6-1, by Patrick Kuhnen of Germany.

“I haven’t played a match in a month and I think that didn’t help,” said Becker, who missed the French Open because of a thigh injury. “I didn’t move so well. The conditions were also difficult.

“I didn’t expect to play a great match, but I was hoping to get in at least a couple of matches to help me pick my game up. Now I will be out practicing from (today) and hope I can work my way into shape.”

Becker, a three-time Wimbledon champion, was unhappy with slippery conditions caused by intermittent showers, and several times questioned the umpire about the condition of the court and the balls.

Becker struggled from the outset. He lost his serve to trail 2-3 in the opening set and never really pressured Van Rensburg, who upset Lendl last week at the Beckenham grass-court tournament.

“I moved better than he did,” Van Rensburg said. “But then I am lighter on my feet than Boris. I have waited 12 years to play him on grass and when it came up I thought I had a good chance.”

Pete Sampras downed Mark Woodforde of Australia, 6-1, 6-3, and Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia defeated Sandon Stolle of Australia, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

Seventh-seeded Pam Shriver defeated Louise Allen, 6-4, 6-4, and moved into the round of 16 in the Edgbaston grass-court tournament at Birmingham, England.

Shriver had to wait out a 52-minute rain delay.

“The thing I was least happy about was that they put wet covers on the court,” Shriver said. “Instead of a break of five minutes we had about 40.”

Third-seeded Gigi Fernandez routed Amanda Grunfeld, 6-1, 6-2, after a 3 1/2-hour rain delay and Natalia Zvereva of Russia swept Nathalie Guerree of France, 6-2, 6-1.

Jo Durie of Britain defeated Betsy Nagelsen, 6-3, 6-4, and sixth-seeded Brenda Schultz of the Netherlands outlasted Kristine Radford of Australia, 7-5, 4-6, 11-9.

Fifth-seeded John McEnroe rallied in the second set to defeat Jim Grabb, 6-2, 7-6 (9-7), in the second round of the Continental Grass Courts Championship at Rosmalen, Netherlands.

In other matches, Richey Reneberg upset seventh-seeded Markus Zoecke of Germany, 6-2, 6-4, Michael Stich of Germany beat Fernon Wibier of the Netherlands, 6-4, 6-4, second-seeded Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands outlasted Andrei Olhovskiy of Russia, 6-4, 6-7 (7-1), 6-4, and third-seeded Alexander Volkov of Russia downed Kent Kinnear, 6-3, 6-4.

Magnus Gustafsson of Sweden advanced to the quarterfinals of a tournament at Florence, Italy, with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Mark Koevermans of the Netherlands.

Luiz Mattar of Brazil defeated Germany’s Lars Koslowski, 7-5, 6-4, and Francisco Yunis of Argentina outlasted Veli Paloheimo of Finland, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1.