Tenis Roundup : McEnroe, Becker Take Opposite Paths

The end result was about all John McEnroe and Boris Becker had in common at Brussels Wednesday.

McEnroe overwhelmed Paolo Crane of Italy, 6-3, 6-1, in the first round of the $315,000 Belgian Indoor tennis tournament, while Becker struggled past Peter Lindgren of Sweden, 7-6, 6-3.

The top-seeded Becker should have lost the tiebreaker. He trailed, 6-4, and was flat on his back when Lindgren, a last-minute replacement in the tournament, netted an easy volley. Becker won the next three points and the set.

Becker and Lindgren traded service breaks in the second set before the West German broke again in the eighth game and served one of eight aces to close out the match.

McEnroe beat Crane in less than an hour.

The American said the hip injury which hampered him in losing the final of the Rotterdam Grand Prix to Stefan Edberg last week didn’t bother him against Crane.

In other matches, defending champion Mats Wilander of Sweden downed Eduardo Masso of Argentina, 7-5, 6-2; Jonas Svensson of Sweden outlasted Australian Carl Limberger, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3; Gilad Bloom of Israel overcame Amos Mansdorf, also of Israel, 1-6, 7-6, 6-4; and Jan Gunnarsson of Sweden beat Italian Simone Colombo, 3-6, 6-0, 6-1.

Qualifier Anne Henricksson up set Wendy Turnbull, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, to move into the quarterfinals of the $150,000 Virginia Slims of Washington at Fairfax, Va.

Henricksson used a critical service break in the eighth game of the final set to dispose of Turnbull, the world’s 15th-ranked player.

With Turnbull serving at 3-4, Henricksson fought off three game-points and finally pulled even at 4-4 with a crosscourt forehand at the net. Henricksson, ranked No. 52, then served out the match at 15.

Eighth-seeded Lori McNeil also advanced to the quarterfinal round by eliminating Wendy White, 6-2, 6-4. McNeil, ranked No. 13 in the world, won the last eight points.