TENNIS ROUNDUP : USTA Plays It Safe With Open Seedings

Using the computer rankings as a guide, the U.S. Tennis Assn. announced the seedings for the U.S. Open, which starts Monday at Flushing Meadow, N.Y.

Jim Courier and Steffi Graf were given the top seedings. Courier, this year’s Australian Open champion and a finalist at Wimbledon and the French Open, was seeded first at the U.S. Open last year.

Graf, who won the French Open and Wimbledon, is seeded first at the season’s final Grand Slam event for the sixth time in the last seven years. She was top-seeded from 1987-91 before being replaced by Monica Seles.

The tournament followed the computer rankings in seeding the players with one exception, that being Seles, who is ranked No. 2 in the world, but has not played since she was stabbed during a tournament in Hamburg, Germany, in April. Seles won the last two U.S. Opens.

Rounding out the top five men’s seedings are No. 2 Pete Sampras, this year’s Wimbledon champion who beat Courier in the semifinals last year; No. 3 Stefan Edberg of Sweden, the two-time U.S. Open defending champion; No. 4 Boris Becker of Germany, and No. 5 Sergi Bruguera of Spain, the French Open champion.

After Graf in the women’s seedings are Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain, Martina Navratilova, Conchita Martinez of Spain and Gabriela Sabatini. Navratilova is seeded for a record 19th consecutive year. Both Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors were seeded 18 consecutive years.

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Top-seeded Stefan Edberg was given an unexpected scare by 20-year-old Eyal Ran of Israel before winning, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, in the second round of the Hamlet Cup at Commack, N.Y.

Edberg had to rally to overcome Ran, an Israeli soldier ranked 262nd making his tournament debut in the United States.

Sergi Bruguera moved into the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Patrick McEnroe.

Also advancing were Michael Chang, who beat Andrei Cherkasov of Russia, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, and Alexander Volkov of Russia, who defeated 19-year-old countryman Yevgeny Kafelnikov, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.

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Mikael Pernfors defeated fellow Swede Niklas Kulti, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1), in the second round of the International Open at Schenectady, N.Y.

Karel Novacek of Monaco advanced by beating Magnus Larsson of Sweden, 6-3, 6-4, and Javier Sanchez beat fellow Spaniard Francisco Clavet, 6-4, 6-3.

Nathalie Tauziat, seeded first, defeated Nanne Dahlman of Finland, 6-4, 6-2, in a first-round women’s match.

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Gabriela Sabatini won a singles match and the team of Lori McNeil and Pam Shriver followed with a doubles triumph, staking the Americas team to a 2-0 lead over the world team in the WTA Challenge at Washington.

Sabatini beat Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-3, in the opening singles match of the tournament, which is using a modified Davis Cup format. McNeil and Shriver followed with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 victory over Amanda Coetzer of South Africa and Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere of Switzerland.