TENNIS / THOMAS BONK : USC, UCLA Expected to Be Strong Again

USC, which reached the semifinals of the NCAA tournament in May, and UCLA, whose top singles player reached the men’s singles final, are hoping to make another dent in college tennis’ biggest tournament next spring at tournament time.

The Trojans of Coach Dick Leach lost to eventual NCAA champion Stanford in the semifinals and finished fourth in the final Volvo Tennis/College Rankings with a 22-8 record. Leach will have top player Byron Black, No. 3 Donny Isaak, No. 4 Andras Lanyi and No. 6 Kent Seton back. Two other singles players--No. 2 Mehdi Benyebka and No. 5 Martin Dionne--transferred to schools in Iowa, Benyebka to Iowa State and Dionne to Drake.

USC has reached the NCAA semifinals eight times in the past 14 years, but has never made the final. Leach is only four victories short of his 300th victory at USC and will collect it long before his son, Jonathan, finishes high school a semester early and joins the Trojans in January.

Another new player counted upon is sophomore David Ekerot, a left-handed Swede, who transferred from Auburn, where he was a member of the All-Southeastern Conference team as a freshman with a 27-7 match play record.

The Bruins of Coach Glenn Bassett were 27-4 last year and all their top players return, among them No. 1 Jason Netter, although there is speculation Netter will sit out the fall semester and turn professional. Netter, the Pacific 10 singles champion, reached the NCAA singles final before losing to Steve Bryan of Texas, 6-3, 6-4. The Bruins, who lost to Tennessee, finished in a tie for third.

Bassett, the winingest active men’s coach at 520-80, is beginning his 25th year at UCLA, which last won the NCAA title in 1984, making this the longest span it has gone without a national title. The Bruins placed No. 3 in the final Volvo rankings and were Pac-10 champions.

Other Bruin returnees are No. 2 Mark Knowles, No. 3 Fritz Bissell, No. 4 Billy Barber, No. 5 Bill Behrens and No. 6 Jason Sher. David Nainkin is expected to enroll in January.

Muster mash: The ATP, which came down heavily on Austrian Davis Cup star Thomas Muster for alleged unsportsmanlike conduct, has eased up a bit after a hearing last week in New York. Instead of a 10-week suspension from ATP events and a $20,000 fine, Muster is now suspended for three weeks and fined $15,000.

The sanctions were levied as a result of Muster’s withdrawal from a tournament in Prague in April after he had played one game. Muster claimed a hip injury. The ATP intervened, claiming Muster also violated its “best efforts” rules and should never have played if he was injured as he claimed.

Muster’s suspension covers only ATP events, not special events or exhibitions. Muster, ranked No. 10, has earned $492,597 this year in prize money alone.

Charlie’s angles: Charlie Pasarell, the tournament director of the Newsweek Champions Cup at Hyatt Grand Champions in Indian Wells, was spurned by Virginia Slims and International Management Group, who moved a women’s tournament from Grand Champions to Palm Springs. Pasarell, angered by the shift, has come up with a response: competition.

Pasarell has scheduled an ATP Challenger Series event and an ATP seniors tournament Feb. 25-March 3, which just happens to be the same week the Virginia Slims of Palm Springs is being played at Mayor Sonny Bono’s racket club.

Pasarell said he has not given up hope for staging a women’s tournament at the same time the challenger and senior are being played.

“We have not changed our goal,” Pasarell said. “The expansion of the men’s event and bringing back the seniors is not meant as a replacement of the women’s event.”

Fantasy Island? Want to see if you can return Roscoe Tanner’s serve, stay even mentally with Pancho Gonzalez or cover the court as well as Arthur Ashe?

Former champions such as Roy Emerson, Ashe, Gonzalez and Tanner will join Tom Gorman, John Lloyd and others in the Ultimate Tennis Fantasy Camp, which is in the planning stages and will be held in Scottsdale, Ariz., May 14-18.

A $3,895 five-day package includes six hours a day of instruction, coaching and competition with the tennis legends. For details, call 281-8100.

College kickoffs: Mark Jeffrey of Mississippi State won the first West Coast Fall men’s championship at the Warner Center Club in Woodland Hills, beating Andras Lanyi of USC, 6-3, 6-4, in the final. In the consolation final, Ove Pedersen of Cal defeated Bill Behrens of UCLA, 6-4, 6-4.

The tournament kicked off the intercollegiate tennis season. Proceeds from the event benefited the Pacific Lodge Boys Home.

Debbie Graham of Stanford, the 1990 NCAA women’s singles champion, heads a field of collegians in the Riviera Women’s All-American Tennis Championships at the Riviera Tennis Club, Oct. 23-28.

Graham, who is also the Pac-10 singles champion, tops a list of 32 players entered in the first step of the collegiate Grand Slam, which culminates in the NCAA tournament in May. Other top players expected to compete are Sandra Birch of Stanford, Trisha Laux of USC, Shannan McCarthy of Georgia, Teri Whitlinger of Stanford and Eveline Hamers of Kansas.

Nick notes: How influential is tennis coach Nick Bollettieri? Use the U.S. Open as an example.

Bollettieri, who operates a tennis academy in Florida, coaches finalist Andre Agassi. There were 37 former or current tennis academy members in the men’s and women’s draw. Women’s champion Gabriela Sabatini worked with Bollettieri’s sports psychologist, Jim Loehr, before the Open.

Also, four of the eight men’s quarterfinalists--Agassi, Pete Sampras, Aaron Krickstein, David Wheaton--either train at the Bollettieri camp or are former students. And Sampras, who beat Agassi in the final, has trained at Bollettieri’s for nearly a year and is coached by Bollettieri instructor Joe Brandi.

Meanwhile, there are rumors that Agassi may sever his ties with Bollettieri and look for a new coach.

Tennis Notes

The resignation of Bjorn Alstrom, who quit after 18 years as president of Volvo North America, is going to affect the company’s wide-ranging involvement in tennis. “We intend to remain a major player in the sport,” said Bill Mergler, vice president of corporate promotions. “However . . . the industry’s continuing downturn in auto sales means we will take a close look at some facets of the . . . tennis program.” First casualty is expected to be the sports marketing budget, which Mergler said is going to get trimmed. The company owns the Volvo/Los Angeles tournament in August at UCLA, won this year by Stefan Edberg.

Bonni Sue Hickson of Truckee has been selected as the 1990 recipient of the USTA Wheelchair Tennis Community Service Award. Hickson is the founder and director of the Northern Nevada-Tahoe Wheelchair Tennis Foundation. . . . The West End Tennis Club of Torrance is competing in the national championships of the USTA/Volvo Tennis League this weekend in San Antonio.