Tennis entry list strong.

Press, 28 November 1987, Page 96

Tennis entry list strong.

PA Auckland New Zealand’s Kelly Evernden would have struggled to gain a seeding through to the semifinals of the Benson and Hedges Open tennis tournament in Auckland next January on the strength of the entry list released yesterday. Evernden caused a sensation earlief this week when he announced he would by-pass the glamour New, Zealand event to play a $500,000 exhibition, tournament involving Ivan Lendl and Boris Becker in Queensland on the same dates, January 4-10. The loss of the top Kiwi, ranked thirty-fourth in the world, had been more than compensated for by an entry list that boasted eight players from the top 100.

Evernden’s ranking would have placed him No. 4 on the Auckland entry list behind Amos Mansdorf (Israel, No. 24), Peter Lundgren (Sweden, No. 26), and Jonas Svensson (Sweden, No. 29). But with the likelihood of the former top 10 player, Jimmy Arias (U.S.) being given a wild card, it was obvious Evernden would need to have played his best to stand a chance of reaching the semi-finals of the Leopard Deluxe men’s singles championship. Mansdorf was presently one of the hottest players on the pro tour. Last month he won the Israeli Open and the following week finished runner-up to Svensson in Vienna. Last week he reached the semi-finals of the South

African Open where ne lost to the eventual champion, Pat Cash ( Australia). Lundgren and Svensson were on the verge of breaking into the top 20. Lundgren boasted two singles titles this year while Svensson had one singles and one doubles title to his credit. Competitors for Auckland share among themselves 17 grand prix titles. Nestled behind these leading players and looking capable of seedings for Auckland were Jim Pugh (U.S., No. 37), CarlUwe Steeb (West Germany, No. 44), Ramesh Krishnan (India, No. 47), Dan Goldie (U.S., No. 48) and Paolo Cane (Italy, No. 49). Pugh had established himself as one of the leading doubles players in

the world with three major titles to his credit this year. He also finished runner-up in two singles championships. The 23 direct entries and their world rankings are.— Amos Mansdorf (Israel, 24), Peter Lundgren (Sweden, 26), Jonas B. Svensson (Sweden, 29), Jim Pugh (U.S., 37), Carl-Uwe Steeb (West Germany, 44), Ramesh Krishnan (India, 47), Dan Goldie (U.S., 48), Paolo Cane (Italy, 49), Magnus Gustafsson (Finland, 51), Mlchiel Schapers (Netherlands, 52), Tim Wilkison (U.S., 54), John Frawley (Australia, 56), Tarik Benhabiles (France, 66), Jim Grabb (U.S., 67), Mark Woodforde (Australia, 68), Christian Bergstrom (Sweden, 71), Jeremy Bates (Britain, 87), Christian Saceanu (West Germany, 91), Marty Davis (U.S., 95) Claudio Pistoles! (Italy, 96) Bill Scanlon (U.S., 98), Dan Cassidy (U.S., 106), Grant Connell (Canada, 108).