TENNIS ROUNDUP : Tracy Austin Decides to Bypass U.S. Open

Tracy Austin will skip the U.S. Open, putting her tennis comeback on hold while she concentrates on her career as a television commentator. She’ll work for the USA network during the Open, which begins Monday.

“Tracy’s position is she can’t do the commentary and the tennis at the same time and do them both well,” Gorden Beck, the USA network’s executive producer, said Tuesday. “It was one or the other.”

Austin, 30, who twice won the Open as a teen-ager, won an opening-round match in the Canadian Open last week, then lost to Nathalie Tauziat of France, 6-4, 6-1.

Austin will join John McEnroe on the cable network’s team of analysts for the tournament.

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Unseeded Andrei Chesnokov of Russia eliminated second-seeded Boris Becker of Germany, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, in the opening round of the $300,000 Hamlet Cup tennis tournament at Commack, N.Y.

Top-seeded Stefan Edberg of Sweden began final preparation for next week’s defense of his U.S. Open title by beating Brad Gilbert, 6-3, 6-0.

Defending tournament champion Petr Korda, seeded sixth, lost, 6-2, 6-2, to Arnaud Boetsch of France.

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Top-seeded Ivan Lendl, showing sparks of the kind of play that netted him eight Grand Slam event titles, defeated Guillaume Raoux of France, 7-5, 6-3, in the first round of the OTB International Open at Schenectady, N.Y.