Tennis Roundup : Lendl, McEnroe and Noah Eliminated in Third Round

Kevin Curren defeated top-seeded Ivan Lendl, and Robert Seguso ousted John McEnroe at Toronto Thursday, highlighting a string of upsets in the third round of the $375,000 Canadian Open tennis tournament.

Losing for only the fourth time this year, Lendl, the world’s No. 1 player, fell, 7-6, 7-6, as Curren won the tiebreakers, 7-5 and 8-6.

Seguso slowed McEnroe’s comeback, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. The fifth-seeded McEnroe returned to competitive tennis last week after a seven-month layoff.

McEnroe appeared shaky on the big points. Serving at 4-3 with a break in the third set, McEnroe could not hold, losing the game on a backhand passing shot by the 12th-seeded Seguso.

Then, serving at 5-6, McEnroe went up 30-love but dropped the next four points. “John wasn’t as sharp as he usually is,” Seguso said. “He was hitting the ball all right, but I think he needs more match play.

“On a lot of shots he was unsure of himself. He wasn’t as good on the big points.”

Lendl said he wasn’t surprised by his defeat, because of Curren’s first serve, which produced 15 aces.

“When he plays well he’s usually pretty effective with his serve. But he didn’t do anything, he was just serving.

“Then he took chances in both tiebreakers. He would come in on anything and hope I wouldn’t pass him, which happened.”

Joining Curren and Seguso in the quarterfinals was Jonathan Canter, who beat third-seeded Yannick Noah of France, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4. In another upset, Bud Schultz downed seventh-seeded Brad Gilbert, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, and South Africa’s Christo Steyn beat eighth-seeded Jimmy Arias, 6-3, 6-1.

Second-seeded Boris Becker of West Germany brought the tournament back to earth with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Francisco Maciel of Mexico.

Canter, ranked No. 58 in the world, was beaming after the victory over Noah.

“I’m ecstatic,” he said. “I feel I just played a little more solid than he was, and I was a bit more aggressive than he was.”

Known on the circuit as “Hollywood” because his father is a Beverly Hills movie producer, Canter was down, 5-4, in the second set after losing the first.

Noah, who played in flat, almost listless fashion, put the loss down to lack of concentration. It was just his second match following a three-month absence because of an injured ankle.

“I lost concentration in his serve because I was winning mine so easily,” he said. “In the end I got a little tired, was a little slower, and he just played better in the important points. I had a few chances in the third set and didn’t make them.”

Leif Shiras defeated Mark Kratzmann, 7-5, 6-1, in the second day of an invitational tournament at Stowe, Vt.