Chris Evert Lloyd back in top form

Press, 20 February 1986, Page 48

Chris Evert Lloyd back in top form

NZPA-Reuter Boca Raton, Florida The top seed, Chris Evert Lloyd, unhappy with her recent performances, was back in top form yesterday as she overwhelmed an unseeded American, Terry Phelps, to reach the semifinals of the SUSI.B million ($3.39 million) International Players tennis championships. Lloyd beat Phelps, 6-2, 6-0, to end the women’s quarter-finals round on a rainy day that produced long delays. Also reaching the semifinals were the 16-year-

old second seed, Steffi Graf, of West Germany, the seventh seed, Helena Sukova, of Czechoslovakia, and the ninth seed, Kathy Rinaldi (U.S.). "It’s the second week of the tournament,” Lloyd said. “I played disappointing tennis the first week, but I know I have to play better from now on.”

Phelps, who gave Lloyd a tougher test in the French Open quarterfinals, was overmatched. "I felt she was toying with me, hitting to the comers. I got frustrated,” she said. Graf advanced against the sixth seed, Zina Garri-

son (U.S.), 6-2, 6-7, 6-3; Sukova beat an American, Barbara Potter, 6-1, 6-2, and Rinaldi eliminated the twelfth seed, Carling Bassett, of Canada, 7-6, 62.

The men’s quarterfinals today have the top seed, Ivan Lendl, of Czechoslovakia, against Joakim Nystrom, of Sweden; the American, Jimmy Connors, meeting Yannick Noah, of France; Sweden’s Stefan Edberg facing the unseeded Milan Srejber, of Czechoslovakia, and the Swede, Mats Wilander, taking on the unseeded Guy Forget, of France.