TENNIS / AUSTRALIAN OPEN : Lendl Goes Out in Four Sets, Losing to Sweden’s Bergstrom

The Australian Open is turning into the Swedish Open.

Ivan Lendl suffered a first-round loss in a Grand Slam event for the first time since Wimbledon in 1981, falling to Sweden’s Christian Bergstrom, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, today.

It came one day after Sweden’s Anders Jarryd eliminated No. 4-seeded Boris Becker.

“I was watching that in the apartment and I got so psyched up,” said Bergstrom, a friend and practice partner of Jarryd’s. “He showed that in the first round you can beat these guys.”

Lendl, seeded eighth, was coming back from a groin injury and had not played much recently.

“My game plan was to make him a little insecure, hit some drop volleys and wrong-foot him sometimes,” Bergstrom said.

Michael Chang won 15 of the last 17 games to beat Britain’s Chris Baily, 6-3, 6-1, 6-1. Chang will next play David Wheaton, who beat Sandon Stolle, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.

In the women’s draw, No. 3 Gabriela Sabatini overcame four set points and won 10 of the last 11 points to beat 16-year-old Chanda Rubin, 6-1, 7-5; No. 4 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario defeated Noelle van Lottum, 6-2, 6-3, and No. 7 Jennifer Capriati benefited from Linda Harvey-Wild’s erratic play, 6-0, 6-1.