Tennis Roundup : Lendl, Becker, Edberg, Connors Reach Quarterfinals

Favorites Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg and Jimmy Connors defeated second-round opponents Thursday to move into the quarterfinals of the $375,000 Seiko Super tennis tournament.

Lendl, the world’s top-ranked player, had little trouble for the second day in a row. The 26-year-old Czechoslovakian defeated Paul McNamee of Australia, 6-2, 6-3.

Becker used his booming serve to overwhelm Jaime Yzaga of Peru, 6-3, 6-2. The second-seeded West German served 14 aces.

Sweden’s Edberg, seeded third, came from behind to turn back Kelly Jones, 4-6, 6-1, 6-0.

Connors, seeded fourth, beat Billy Scanlon, 6-3, 7-6.

Sixth-seeded David Pate was the only other seeded player to win on Day 3 of the Grand Prix event at Tokyo. Pate defeated Japan’s Tsuyoshi Fukui, 6-3, 6-2.

Fifth-seeded Andres Gomez of Ecuador lost, 6-4, 6-3, to Eric Jelen, a rising West German who jumped from No. 192 to No. 25 in the world rankings in less than a year. And seventh-seeded Aaron Krickstein lost to Scott Davis in a hard-fought match, 7-6, 7-6.

In another upset, Paul Annacone defeated eighth-seeded Ulf Stenlund of Sweden, 6-1, 6-2.

In today’s quarterfinals, Lendl will face Davis, Becker will play Annacone, Edberg will meet Pate and Connors will play Jelen.

At Brighton, England, top-seeded Steffi Graf of West Germany overcame the lingering effects of food poisoning to defeat Raffaella Reggi of Italy, 6-4, 6-4, to reach the quarterfinals of a $200,000 women’s indoor tournament.

“I’m not feeling 100%. I had some lasagna last night and it upset me,” Graf said after the 66-minute match. “It’s not easy to concentrate on the early rounds, and she was doing all the powering--and that’s what I’m used to doing.”

In the quarterfinals, Graf will play Robin White, one of only two seeded Americans in the draw. White edged past Grace Kim, 6-3, 7-5.

Third-seeded Claudia Kohde-Kilsch, playing her first tournament in seven weeks, advanced by eliminating Barbara Potter, 6-4, 6-4. The 22-year-old West German, who lives in Marbella, Spain, decided to take a break after losing to Manuela Maleeva of Bulgaria in the fourth round of the U.S. Open last month.

Today, Kohde-Kilsch will meet Caterina Lindqvist of Sweden, who beat Ann Henricksson, 6-2, 6-1.

Marty Riessen defeated Roscoe Tanner, 6-4, 6-3, in the $40,000 Steve McQueen Pro-Celebrity tournament at the Claremont Club.

The professional bracket is restricted to players 35 and older.

In other singles matches, Jaime Fillol beat Syd Ball, 6-4, 6-4; Ray Moore outlasted Ilie Nastase, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, and Tom Gullickson routed Frew McMillan, 6-1, 6-2.

The event continues today, with the finals scheduled Sunday.