Mansdorf reaches third round

Press, 23 February 1989, Page 32

Mansdorf reaches third round

NZPA-Reuter Philadelphia

The Israeli Davis Cup player, Amos Mansdorf, cruised into the third round of the $U5602,500 ($NZ987,700) United States pro indoor tennis championships with a 6-4, 6-3 win over American John Letts yesterday.

Mansdorf was joined by three other seeds — No. 10, Christo van Rensburg, of South Africa, fifteenth-seed, American Jim Courier and his sixteenth-seeded compatriot, David Pate, in the final 16. All seeded players received first-round byes. The No. 13 seed, Derrick Rostagno, of the United States, became the first seeded casualty when he fell to Milan Srejber, of Czechoslovakia, 6-3, 6-4. Mansdorf backed up well angled volley with solid groundstrokes and was never in danger against Letts. The American, who had to qualify for the main draw, was playing his second match in less than 24 hours while Mansdorf appeared fresher after reaching the second round on a bye. India's Ramesh Krishnan, who was beneficiary of a mid-match default by American Marty Davis in the first round, was forced to withdraw because of a bad back, giving Courier a place in the third round without hitting a single ball. • The No. 5 seed,. Anders Jarryd, needed little more than an hour to dispose of Michiel Schapers, of the Netherlands, in the first round of the Lyon Grand Prix men’s tennis tournament yesterday. The Swede, runner-up to Switzerland’s Jakob Hlasek in the Rotterdam Grand Prix tournament 10 days ago, never seemed bothered by Schapers’ serve-and-volley game and swept to a 6-3, 6-2 win in 72 minutes. :. '.

• The first women's professional tennis tournament in the Soviet Union has been scheduled to be played this year in Moscow, and a men's competition will follow next year, a .newspaper reported from Moscow. "Izvestia,” the Government daily, quoted the main Soviet tennis trainer, Shamil Tarpishchev, as saying the women will play a tournament some time this year sponsored by the Virginia ■Slims organisation, a United States cigarette brand. The report did not specify a date for the tournament.