Top tennis seeds tumbled out

Press, 18 March 1989, Page 96

Top tennis seeds tumbled out

NZPA-Reuterlndian Wells, California Boris Becker, the top seed and twice defending champion, won only two games in a stunning thirdround upset by American Jay Berger yesterday in the Indian Wells grand prix tennis tournament. Becker, a shadow of his usual self on court, lost to the unseeded American 61, 6-1 in just 73 minutes on a tumultuous day at

the $U5702,000 event. The second seed, Stefan Edberg, of Sweden, was also upset, falling to sixteenth seed, American Michael Chang 6-3, 6-2. In yet another twist in the tournament, the third seed, Andre Agassi, advanced when unseeded fellow-American Robert Seguso was defaulted for abuse of the Australian umpire, Richard Ings. The final score was 5-7, 6-4, 20.

Mild by comparison was the upset achieved by Yannick Noah, the twelfth seeded Frenchman, who escaped four match points to beat the fifth-seeded Swiss Jakob Hlasek 5-7, 76, 6-3.

Becker, No 3 in the world, lacked feel on his strokes, misfired on his first serve and watched passing shots by Berger sail by him for winners.

• Unseeded American Terry Phelps upset the

second seed, Gabriela Sabatini, of Argentina, in straight sets yesterday in the second round of a SUS3OO,OOO women’s tennis tournament in Boca Raton, Florida. Phelps, aged 22 and ranked No. 45 in the world, easily won the first set 6-2, then held on to win a tiebreaker in the second set to spoil Sabatini’s rally. Four seeded players survived their second-

round matches and reached the last eight. Experienced Chris Evert, the third seed, beat the fifteenth seed, Barbara Paulus, of Austria, 6-0, 75; the fourth seed, Helena Sukova, of Czechoslovakia, defeated South African-born Rosalyn Fairbank 8-6, 6-0, and Mary Joe Fernandez, the fifth seed, beat fellowAmerican Peahut Louie Harper 6-3, 6-4.