Tennis Roundup : Graf, Sanchez Paired to Meet at Wimbledon

Steffi Graf of West Germany, seeking to repeat as Wimbledon champion, could face her toughest opponents in the fourth round and quarterfinals.

Graf was drawn Tuesday for a potential quarterfinal match against Arantxa Sanchez, the Spanish teen-ager who ended Graf’s Grand Slam streak in this month’s French Open final.

In the men’s draw, top-seeded Ivan Lendl, seeking his first Wimbledon title, was paired to face two-time champion Boris Becker of West Germany in the men’s semifinals.

Pairings made by the All England Lawn Tennis Club put Graf, the top-seeded player, and No. 7 Sanchez, 17, in the bracket to meet in the quarterfinals.

Graf, who won five consecutive Grand Slam titles before being stopped by Sanchez, also is paired to face 15-year-old Monica Seles of Yugoslavia, seeded 11th, in the fourth round.

Seles gave Graf a battle before losing in the semifinals at the French Open, but the defending champion was confident that she would benefit from Wimbledon’s grass courts.

“Grass is a totally different thing,” Graf said. “Arantxa on grass is a different story. She doesn’t have much experience yet on the surface and it’s the same with Monica.”

Graf opens the tournament Tuesday against British wild-card Julie Salmon, and second-seeded Martina Navratilova will play Jill Heatherington of Canada.

In the men’s competition, fifth-seeded John McEnroe, aiming for a fourth Wimbledon championship, was placed in the lower half of the draw, creating potential matchups against fourth-seeded Mats Wilander in the quarterfinals and defending champion Stefan Edberg, seeded No. 2, in the semifinals.

Michael Chang, who this month became the first American winner of the French Open men’s singles in 34 years, was drawn to open against a yet-to-be-picked qualifier. Chang, better on clay and hardcourts than grass, is seeded ninth.

Graf and Navratilova are seeded to meet in the women’s final, as they have the last two years.

The toughest potential opponent before Seles for Graf would appear to be Sylvia Hanika of West Germany in the third round. Navratilova’s toughest might be 14th-seeded Hana Mandlikova in the fourth.

Pavel Slovil, Graf’s coach, said he was very happy with the draw, “but we mustn’t get too complacent. On grass it’s never easy. You can lose your timing and someone can jump on you. But on paper it looks like a great draw.”

Lendl opens Monday against Nicolas Pereira of Venezuela, last year’s Wimbledon junior champion and a winner over Edberg in the first round at the Queen’s Club grass-court tournament last week.

Edberg faces Chris Pridham of Canada, and McEnroe opens against Darren Cahill of Australia.

The top-seeded Navratilova and second-seeded Chris Evert won in straight sets to advance to the third round of the Eastbourne Virginia Slims grass-court tournament.

Navratilova beat Ronni Reis, 6-0, 6-2, and Evert defeated Sara Gomer of Britain, 6-2, 6-0.

Also advancing was seventh-seeded Mary Joe Fernandez, who beat Britain’s Anne Simpkin, 6-3, 6-1.

Shaun Stafford scored one of the day’s upsets, beating 11th-seeded Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden, 6-0, 2-6, 6-4. Eighth-seeded Claudia Kohde-Kilsch of West Germany also was eliminated, losing to Aiko Kijimuta of Japan, 6-4, 6-4.

Anders Jarryd of Sweden and Horst Skoff of Austria became the first seeded players to lose at the pre-Wimbledon Wirral International tennis tournament at Wirral, England.

Jarryd, seeded eighth, lost in the second round to Italian teen-ager Diego Nargiso, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1, and fifth-seeded Skoff was upset by Pete Sampras, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-2).

Top-seeded Derrick Rostagno defeated Tim Wilkison, 6-2, 6-2, to reach the second round of the Bristol Grand Prix tennis tournament at Bristol, England.

Another American, Richard Matuszewski, defeated Nigerian Nduka Odizor, 6-3, 6-3, and Vijay Amritraj of India saved five match points in the second-set tiebreaker as he rallied to beat Britain’s Andrew Castle, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4.