McEnroe Struggles to Paris Victory

PARIS —  John McEnroe struggled to a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Jonas Svensson of Sweden in the opening round of the $1.3-million Paris Open tennis tournament today.

Fellow American Aaron Krickstein moved into the third round with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory over qualifier Ronald Agenor of Haiti.

Mats Wilander was not as fortunate. His slide from the top continued, and he was eliminated by Alberto Mancini of Argentina 7-6 (10-8), 6-4.

Third-seeded McEnroe played erratically. He jumped to a 5-1 lead over Svensson in the first set, then struggled with his serve before taking it 6-3. He had four aces but also five double faults.

“That’s been the most disappointing part of my game throughout the year,” McEnroe said. “Sometimes I get in a groove and then other games I miss quite a lot.”

Mancini and Wilander played a baseline game on an indoor surface. In the first set the only difference after more than 62 minutes of play was in the tiebreaker when Mancini took two consecutive points after 8-8. He passed Wilander on a service return, then had a serve-and-volley that ended the set in the Argentine’s favor.

“I had a chance in the tiebreak,” Wilander said. “When I started winning I began to play a more defensive game. I did expect to play better than I did. But when you keep on losing that’s not encouraging. But that’s the way it goes.”

Mancini had beaten Wilander twice this season, including a wipeout in the Monte Carlo Open semifinal which Mancini won by beating Boris Becker in the final. Wilander, who ended up 1988 as the world’s No. 1 player, has seen his ranking drop to No. 13, after being as low as No. 16.

“I haven’t been motivated the last few weeks. I really wanted to win today and I am disappointed about losing this match,” Wilander said. “It’s sort of like one step forward and two steps back,”