Young players taking charge?

Press, 2 June 1984, Page 72

Young players taking charge?

NZPA-Reuter Paris A group of young, tough players is putting the heat on the older generation of top stars as the French Open tennis championships enter the third round. Eleven of the 32 seeds have already met defeat since the tournament began on Monday, at times to teenagers making their first appearance on the Roland Garros clay courts. One of the brightest of the young players is Karel Novacek, a 19-year-old Czechoslovak who outlasted the eighth seeded Argentinian, Jose-Luis Clerc, aged 27, to win an exciting five-set match, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 8-6 in yesterday’s second round. The tall, burly Novacek, ranked 356 in the men’s professional standings, was placed second in the European Junior Championships last year after Sweden’s Kent Carisson, another man to watch. Carisson, aged 16, contesting his first Grand Slam tournament in Paris, beat the former French No. 2, Pascal Portes, 6-1, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4 in the second round and meets the seventh seed, Ecuadorian Andres Qomez next.

Spain’s Emilio Sanchez, aged 19, who demolished the fourteenth seed, Tomas Smid, of Czechoslovakia, 7-6 6-4, 6-4, surprised onlookers with his bravado. Sanchez, ranked 88 in the’ world, was a quarter-finalist in the junior championships here last year and stands to move ahead today against the 115th-ranked Roland Stadler, of Switzerland. But the 19-year-old, Martin Jaite, of Argentina, a crafty right-hander, faces a formidable task when he meets the third seed, Jimmy Connors, of the United States. Jaite had little trouble dispatching the flagging American great, Vitas Gerulaitis, the runner-up against Sweden’s Bjorn Borg in the 1980 French Open, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 6-3. The 31-year-old Connors was too powerful for the British Davis Cup player, John Lloyd, and he cruised to a 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 victory. New Zealand’s Chris Lewis and Wally Masur (Australia) beat Pado Cane (Italy) and Simone Colombo (Brazil), 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, in the first round of the men’s doubles.