TENNIS ROUNDUP : Connors Makes Edberg Work for Victory

Stefan Edberg needed 2 hours 42 minutes to beat Jimmy Connors, 6-4, 6-7 (7-5), 6-1, in a third-round match at the Japan Open Thursday that was a battle of the world’s current and former No. 1 players.

“I’m back in business,” said the 38-year-old Connors, playing in only his third tournament since wrist surgery in October. “I’m out there to play tennis and so is Edberg, and what we played was what the people came to see.”

Another former No. 1, John McEnroe, beat fellow American Todd Witsken, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, and third-seeded Brad Gilbert was upset by Australian Pat Cash, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

In all-American matches, fifth-seeded Michael Chang beat David Pate, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), and fourth-seeded Jim Courier beat Dan Goldie, 6-3, 6-4.

Second-seeded Ivan Lendl defeated Jaime Yzaga of Peru, 7-5, 6-3.

The Edberg-Connors match was one of service breaks. Edberg had three in the first set and Connors two. Each had three in the second set before Connors won the tiebreaker by passing Edberg with a service return.

Connors got in 73% of his first serves to Edberg’s 56%.

“I didn’t expect him to play as well as he did,” Edberg said. “You have to treat him with respect.”

Connors, No. 1 from 1974 through 1978, is ranked No. 577 because of his long layoffs.

In a third-round women’s match, Lori McNeil upset top-seeded Amy Frazier, 6-3, 6-3.

Top-seeded Boris Becker was upset by Sergi Bruguera of Spain, 6-2, 6-4, in the third round of the Count of Godo tournament at Barcelona, Spain.

Bruguera, seeded 15th and the current Spanish champion, won the Estoril Open in Portugal last week.

Becker, in the tournament to get some practice on clay before next month’s French Open, struggled. He committed 28 errors, got in only 43% of his first serves and allowed Bruguera to rally from 15-40 in the final game.

A pair of errant backhands by Becker at deuce gave Bruguera the match.

“He’s in good form, and I need to work more,” Becker said. “It’s only the start for me on clay. I need a couple more days of work to be in good form. I hit good shots and bad shots today, but a few too many were bad.”

Becker became the fourth of the top six seeds to lose, joining No. 2 Guy Forget, No. 5 Jonas Svensson and No. 6 Andres Gomez.

Aranxta Sanchez Vicario, who has regained a spot in the top five, defeated Halle Cioffi, 6-3, 6-1, to lead a parade of high seeded players into the quarterfinals of the women’s tournament at Amelia Island, Fla.

Sanchez Vicario, ranked fifth, will next play Leila Meskhi, who stopped Tami Whitlinger, 6-0, 6-1.

Second-seeded Gabriela Sabatini swept Luanne Spadea, 6-0, 6-0.

Other third-round winners were sixth-seeded Natalia Zvereva, No. 4 Zina Garrison, No. 5 Helena Sukova and Patty Fendick, ranked No. 73 in the world.

Sabatini will next play Sukova, who defeated Ginger Helgeson, 6-4, 6-7 (7-3), 6-2.