McEnroe, Connors Win as U.S. Defeats Australia

John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors won singles matches Thursday to give the United States a 2-1 victory over Australia in the World Team Cup tournament at Duesseldorf, West Germany.

It was the second straight victory for the United States in the eight-nation tournament.

McEnroe beat John Fitzgerald, 6-0, 6-1, and Connors defeated Paul McNamee, 6-4, 6-2.

In doubles, Fitzgerald and McNamee downed Ken Flach and Robert Seguso, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

The victories by McEnroe and Connors came one day after they ruled out playing for the U.S. Davis Cup team this year. They decided to take that action rather than sign good-conduct pledges.

McEnroe and Connors were members of the U.S. team that was dealt an embarrassing 4-1 defeat by Sweden in the 1984 Davis Cup final at Gothenburg last December.

Thursday, McEnroe needed slightly more than an hour to beat Fitzgerald. McEnroe led, 5-0, in the first set before Fitzgerald could hold his serve. McEnroe then ran off the next seven games.

McEnroe was on his best behavior throughout the match. His conduct in a first-round match against Juan Aguilera of Spain cost him a fine of $1,250.

Against McNamee, Connors started off with a 3-0 lead, allowing McNamee only three points. The Australian fought back to even the set, 4-4, before being swept aside.

Connors again took a 3-0 lead in the second set, this time allowing McNamee only two points. After McNamee clawed back to 2-3, Connors reeled off the next four games to finish the match in just under 90 minutes.

In another match, Spain defeated West Germany by sweeping both singles matches. Aguilera beat Hansjoerg Schwaier, 7-6, 7-6, and Jose Higueras defeated Michael Westphal, 5-7, 7-5, 6-4.

Top-seeded Manuela Maleeva of Bulgaria defeated Rafaella Reggi of Italy, 6-2, 6-1, at Lugano, Switzerland, to advance to the quarterfinals of a $100,000 tournament.

In other matches, second-seeded Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia eliminated 12th-seeded Elise Burgin, 6-2, 6-4; third-seeded Bonnie Gadusek routed Terry Phelps, 6-1, 6-1; fourth-seeded Kathy Rinaldi defeated Anna-Maria Cecchini of Italy, 6-3, 6-0, and sixth-seeded Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina beat Anne Minter of Australia, 6-3, 6-4.

At Florence, Italy, Jimmy Arias beat Steve Meister, 7-5, 6-2, in the second round of an international tournament. But he and top-seeded Aaron Krickstein, who was knocked out of the singles Wednesday, lost in doubles to Mike DePalmer and Sweden’s Stefan Simonsson, 7-6, 7-6.

Defending NCAA singles champion Mikael Pernfors of Georgia, the No. 1-seeded player, was extended to three sets before advancing to the second round of the NCAA individual championships at Athens, Ga.

Pernfors beat Chuck Merzbacher of Minnesota, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. Also, No. 3-seeded Jim Grabb of Stanford defeated Steve Otero of New Mexico, 6-2, 6-3, and No. 6-seeded Grant Connell of Texas A&M; eliminated Brandan Burke of Louisville, 6-1, 6-4.