Tennis Roundup : Ex-Trojan Witsken Advances in U.S. Clay Court Tournament

Todd Witsken, a former USC All-American, won the opening set in just 23 minutes and went on to defeat Sweden’s Thomas Hogstedt, 6-1, 6-3, Monday as the 78th men’s U.S. Open Clay Court tournament got under way at Indianapolis.

The start of the $375,000 tournament was delayed nearly three hours by rain. A second downpour halted play 2 1/2 hours later and a third shower stopped a night match after Brian Page broke Guillermo Vilas in the opening game.

The top eight seeded players all received first-round byes. Sweden’s Mats Wilander is seeded No. 1, and Ecuador’s Andres Gomez, the defending champion, is No. 2.

Witsken, seeded No. 15, lost only 10 points in the first set and disposed of Hogstedt in 1 hour 5 minutes.

In the only upset of the day, Patrick Kuhnen of West Germany ousted No. 11-seeded Horacio de la Pena of Argentina, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Third-seeded Wendy Turnbull of Australia defeated Beverly Bowes, 6-2, 6-3, in the first round of a $150,000 Virginia Slims tournament at Newport, R.I.

Other seeded players advancing were No. 5 Rosalyn Fairbank of South Africa, who defeated Ronni Reis, 7-5, 6-3, and No. 7 Gigi Fernandez of Puerto Rico, who beat Terry Holladay, 6-3, 6-1.

Paul McNamee and two other Australians scored first-round victories in the $231,000 Mercedes Cup tournament at Stuttgart, West Germany.

McNamee ousted Jesus Colas of Spain, 7-5, 6-3; Broderick Dyke rallied to beat Rick Leach, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, and Carl Limberger defeated Peter Lundgren of Sweden, 7-6, 6-2.